HALLOWED EVENING 2019

Happy Hallowe’en from Maggie Valley! It’s going to be 40 degrees tonite as trick or treaters make their rounds through the farm. There’s a deep freeze coming tonight, our last before heading home to Florida! 

After getting our rig tidied up for tomorrow’s travels, we treated ourselves to lunch at the Sweet Onion in downtown Waynesville. It is a unique restaurant, very comfortable. The food portions were generous and delicious!  The sweet onion soup was amazing.

We could only imagine how it would be with the doors flung open on a nice day! 

Cheers! I had a Hendrick Flower cocktail made with Hendrick’s gin, St. Germain liquor and lime juice. It’s similar to a Margarita. Mark liked the metal artwork on the booths ... and the craft beer. 

What a take! Fried catfish sandwich ... delish. (I had an open face roast beef sandwich with gravy.) 😋 

Back at the RV, Mark prepped outside for a potential freeze while I got our pumpkin ready to carve. Of course the Sharpie gave out before I was done drawing. 

Nevermind my design ... Mark the Ripper to the rescue! 😜

We have a handsome Jack’O’Lantern and plenty of chocolate bars for the wee goblins ... it’s going to be epic. 👻  Later ... well WE sat out with our pumpkin lit and a big bowl of candy but no one came. Oh well, we had fun!

Maybe it was just too cold for the wee ones. Hope your Halloween was a good one! Brrr ... it’s time to warm up inside and watch OITNB.  

Wednesday October 30, 2019

Good morning y’all. We’re having an ‘at home’ day here at the RV with misty rain moving in. (As you probably know, I love rainy days!) 

Mark is starting the slow pack up outside as we are probably done with barbecuing for now. The chicken wings he made yesterday were fantastic. They were habanero and peach with sweet baby rays sauce added. We’ll be cooking those again in the future.

Here’s the art we bought in Waynesville ... the perfect size and colors for our tropical bedroom in the RV.

So this is our official 25th anniversary purchase. (We also bought ROKU and a KING wifi booster and installed it.) 

Tonight we’re making the trek to Asheville and have dinner with Paula, Jeremy, Kim, Jonathan, Savannah and Marshall and their two children Fallon and Austin. 

We had a great time and a good dinner. Thank you Paula and Jeremy for arranging it and treating everyone! We sure enjoyed seeing y’all. Sorry to miss Olivia who worked til 8:30. (It was a rough drive back to the RV (27 miles) in torrential rain. No lights on the highway here.) The dogs were happy to get their walk ... then Robbie went to bed! 🐾💕 

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Good foggy morning y’all. Other than a bit of grocery shopping we’re puttering about the RV park today! 👍🏻

It’s time to catch ya up on other news. 

Sue’s birthday is November 1st ... and she got a new Caddy! Now that’s a pressie! 

It’s a big change for Sue ... she usually has white vehicles! 😍 Best of luck ... and enjoy it Sue. 

It’s laundry day here! After getting the wash started we walked the dogs around to the creek and then over to see the chickens. 

They’re are 8 hens and 1 rooster. 

Later we took a drive to Western Waynesville and found a beautiful shopping area with a Michael’s, Sally’s and Wally. It’s a brand-new center. When we came back to the RV we booked next August 23rd through September 6th. It’ll be a great spot to cool down and relax before heading home from Canada! 

Mark cooked chicken wings and corn on the cob on the grill tonight. After that delicious dinner we sat outside and enjoy the fire until 930. Tomorrow, rain is expected by noon.

Two snuggle-bugs enjoying the great outdoors. 🐾💕

Sunday, October 28, 2019

Good morning! It’s a foggy start to this mountain area. Our plan today is a picnic lunch and drive on the Blue Ridge parkway with the kids. If the fog doesn’t clear we’ll go shopping in Waynesville. Always have a Plan B. Always. (The fog lifted and it was all clear by 11 o’clock!)

After lunch, we went to downtown Waynesville, secured a parking spot and walked up and down the corridor. it was very busy considering it’s a Monday. We bought a painting for our RV bedroom. 🥰 There’s a dog bakery downtown where you can buy cookies bulk. I got cheddar bites for them this time, a whole bag! 

When we got home about 3:30, the dogs enjoyed their new snacks. Paula called and we’ll be able to meet for dinner on Wednesday! 😍 

Just a roadside beauty! 

This bear carving marks Bear Park within the Creekwood RV park. 

Happy hour was spent sitting at the creek with the dogs. It was such a beautiful afternoon with just a light breeze. There were a few trout fisherman along the shoreline.

Tonight was ribeye steaks on the Barbie. Yum. We’re going to relax now and just chill out. 

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Good afternoon. We managed to sleep until 9 o’clock and awoke to vivid blue skies and sunshine. This is a gorgeous part of the world in October when the sun is shining. Try as I might, I could not get a good picture of the mountains in full autumn color while driving down the highway. 

A wee chapel in Maggie Valley 

Driving into Maggie Valley 

Jonathan Creek behind our Campground 

The campgrounds in the area are pretty full at this time of the year. Storekeepers told us it will quiet down after October and then get busy in December and January with the snow skiers. 

So we came back to the campground about 4 o’clock, started a fire and sat outside with the doggies until 10 o’clock. Our dinner was corn on the cob and wieners. We anticipated having a steak, but we were too full after our big lunch at Biscuits and Gravy. It was a perfect night for an evening, clear skies and in the 50s. We were amazed that everyone was in bed and lights off at 9:30. What the heck? 

Rick M called on FaceTime and we chatted for a while. He and Ruth are leaving for Mexico on November 2.

Mark’s sister Paula traced us down to Maggie Valley before we had a chance to call her and suggest meeting for dinner. So, tomorrow we have a few phone calls to make. 

We enjoyed a bonfire tonight with corn on the cob and franks ... plans were for steaks, but lunch was very filling. It was a great day! 

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Good afternoon! It’s a cloudy and cool day so we stayed in and hooked up our RV’s Roku and King wifi booster! It took some brain power 🤣 but we got it done! After lunch we watched Netflix! Super duper. Thank you Long-Wayno for suggesting it. 

The doggies enjoyed an hour of rawhide chews ... lying on old Princess (cruise) towels we keep for picnic benches. Amazingly they know the rules and keep their mess on the towels. Smart pups. 

Here’s our campsite ... great time soaking up autumn colors! 

This evening, we went to J. Arthur’s for our 25th anniversary dinner. Our reservation got muddled up but the maître d’ compensated us two glasses of wine. That’s fair. 

We had a nice table in front of the fireplace. Some nice folks who we met in the lobby took this picture for us.
😜 

This is the best of what we took ourselves at the RV. Yup, this is us. 😂😂

We had a fabulous day and evening. Mark proposed a toast to our next 25 years! 🥂🍾❤️

Friday October 25, 2019

Good morning. It’s a beautiful 60° here in Saint Matthews, South Carolina. We had a great nights sleep as it is a lovely quiet area. Of course I felt bad for the donkeys because they do not have much of a barn. It’s taking a little more effort to hook up this morning because the ground is very un-level and we are off kilter. Mark had to make a ramp to run the truck up on to hook up to the fifth wheel. (The front jacks didn’t retract fully and we trenched slightly onto the gravel road!) Mark pressed the retract switch again and lucky- lucky 🍀 they retracted 6 more inches! We’re going to raise the truck hitch up when we get home! 

It was a good day’s travel and we pulled into our secret-nato-crypto honeymoon spot at 12:30. 🤫 

We’re on the anniversary trip too! 😜💕🐾

Tonight Mark’s BBQing steak, mushrooms and quinoa for our dinner. 😋 

Cheers to 25 more 🥂🍾❤️.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Good morning y’all. We’re up early, ready for our honeymoon trip. 

We left home just before 8. It was a slow drive through the forest with a meth head in a black Blazer driving 35 mph! Yikes. We did see a sundog ...

                               Sun dog!


Jacksonville was easy sailing today! It’s cloudy and 77. 

Savannah River

We will be spending the night at Sweetwater RV Farm in St. Matthews, South Carolina. It’s a pretty farm setting with a lake, hammock and donkeys! Here’s the dapper fellow who visited us. 

He’s an Amiatina Italian donkey. 😎

Well, on the downside, the sites are not level and Mark got us in here but we’ll have to raise the hitch to get us out! 🤨 

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Good morning all y’all ... it’s a sunny cool start to our day. Our high today will be 80°  😎

The plans today are to finish loading the RV, water the plants and go to dinner with friends LaDonna and Wayne tonight. 

I phoned Kris about noon ... he was doing okay but felt loopy from the meds and hadn’t exercised yet. With pain under control he’s ready for some rehab time. (Nurse Ratchet will be in shortly.)

At 3:30 I phoned Wayne. He has a good attitude but a sore hand. He thinks Saran Wrap should be used now as his skin is so thin. I thought bubble wrap might help. 😜 

We’re all ready to go on our RV adventures tomorrow morning! All I’ll say is it’s going to be great to have days in the 50’s and 60’s. 😜

We had a fun time at Stavros ... LaDonna and Wayne met us ... and their daughter is friends with Connor. 😂 We had lots of laughs!  

Our friends Marky-Mark and Lani, in Canada, have adopted a new 10-year-old Jack Russell.

To us, he sure looks a lot like old Jake. Congratulations and we look forward to meeting him soon. 

 

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Good afternoon. It’s been a busy day around our place taking the Dodge in for an oil change and wash. While it was in the shop, Mark and I did our pre-RV trip shopping and went to lunch at Perkins. It was at this time that I checked on everyone.

Randy is having a wonderful birthday and is spending it with Dawn and friends Dan and Mary at a food show in Orlando. Everyone who knows Randy knows he is a foodie, and will be having a blast. Happy happy birthday Randy! 🎂

Kris had hip replacement surgery this morning and Diane has just gone to check on him now. She is quite improved and feels she’ll be able to look after him. Oh boy, Nurse Ratchet has nothing on her! 😂 👩‍⚕️ 

Wayne has been at the dermatologist office since 745 this morning and just finally got home a few minutes ago. He had two chunks taken from his hand, six stitches inside and 14 outside. I am sure he will be in some pain today.

Ten trips up and down the RV steps in the 89 degree heat finished me. Ha. We’ve been binge watching Orange is the new black ... and it’s great; raunchy, bit good. That’s it for today. 

Monday, October 21, 2019

Good morning. It was a terrible night in Texas with springtime type tornadoes. Here, we’re expecting scattered showers and steamy heat. 

Happy Birthday Pam 🥂🍾 Cheers to you! ❤️

Ohhh ... bad humor. 😜 Hope this gets you one step closer to retirement and fun!

This afternoon, I did an interview for our Spotlight On series in the Harbor Shores newsletter. Liz and Bill Bell are well-traveled and have lived in our neighborhood 40 years! It’s always nice to get to know our neighborhood. 

Tonight we’re going to watch DWTS and sip wine. That’s exercise isn’t it? 

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Good morning. Yes, Mark is off to the woods with his pal Bob for the last day of archery season. I got busy dusting, cleaning and doing laundry. I walked past the ‘old’ living room carpet several times before deciding to measure it for the dining room. Oh yeah, one job leads to another. 

Mark arrived home just after noon to find the dining room pulled apart. 😜 We rolled up the 9x12 ...

and moved it to the guest room for now. Then, the black wool sculpted carpet was laid in the dining room. It just took a few minutes of getting it centered and voila ... 


Presto chang-o. (I shortened the table ... 3 - 18” leaves are stored.) There’s a lot more floor exposed now. It felt good to give the floors a good washing. 

We met Randy and Dawn and the family at Jeremiah‘s in Mount Dora for dinner at 5 o’clock. The celebration was for Randy‘s birthday which is next Tuesday. Mark found this crazy party hat at the dollar store yesterday, and thought it was perfect for Randy. Imagine our surprise when he walked in wearing his own fedora. 

Randy’s loving the party hat ... it says Pappy Birthday ... Mark’s nickname for him.

Brandon Jr. with his dad. 

The kids got Randy a good supply of quality golf balls. The question was raised “do they float?” Haha. 

Here’s the 10 of us ... having a fun time. Our waitress Nicole was good fun and attentive. It was a super time. 

Saturday October 19, 2019

Good morning y’all. Robbie’s back sitting on my lap ... something’s just not right. 

Mark walked both Scotties ... Robs pooped just fine, came in the house, farted and ran around the house. When I down with my coffee he climbed on my lap. He’s settled down now after half a Pepcid. 🤷‍♀️ (Another walk for Robbie and you guessed it ... 💩.) That boy is full of it! 🙄

This afternoon we shopped for our honeymoon trip (as Mark calls it!) (Unrelated, a Dollar Tree opened by our Publix at 19 & 44!) Wine was on sale so we loaded up.  Guess I should have bought champagne 🥂 🍾 for our big day! 

Friday, October 18, 2019

Good morning y’all. We’re in for a couple days of rain complement of a Gulf tropical system. Our neighborhood Oktoberfest had to be postponed. 🤷‍♀️

Yeah, rain is coming ...

Mark has gone to Home Depot for a few things and to pick up a new battery for our KIA. Batteries just don’t last as long in the heat. I always thought cold affected them more so, but it’s not true.

Well, that’s another fall cleaning chore done. The Sunroom’s top shelf runs the length of the room and is loaded with nautical knick-knacks. It’s all cleaned. Yay me. 

Well, it was a party tray on the front porch tonight with 72°. A couple of wind were consumed and world affairs discussed. And that’s all I have to say about that 

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Good morning. Mark was up early and off to the forest with his friend Bob. I think Mark likes Bob better than me. 🙄 So, left alone, I baked 115 cookies for the dogs and cooked 10 potatoes to go with their dinners. Well, at least I’m popular with Robbie and Belize. 🥰

The last batch is in the oven, these are pumpkin applesauce cookies! Tails are wagging here today!

That’s the wee rascal Robbie upside down with his feet on the bureau. Yeah, he’s good today. Mz Bee is stretched out napping. 

Tonight we celebrated Randy’s birthday with he and Dawn at CJ’s in downtown Eustis. It’s really not his birthday until the 22nd, but you’ve got to start celebrating somewhere. 😜

Great dinner ... lousy picture. 🤷‍♀️ The service was very good! 

That’s it for tonight. 

 

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Good morning. Mark is finishing up the one side of the sunroom cleaning while I am getting ready for my monthly luncheon with the neighborhood girls. Dawn is able to join us today so that’s going to be extra fun for me. 

Lunch was great at Puddle Jumpers ... it was so windy that Lake Dora had white caps! There were about 14-16 of us today. Dawn ordered the Steakburger... and it looked delish!

 ♥️

When I got home from the luncheon, Robbie was in distress, panting and obviously agitated. Mark tried his doctoring and then I found the vet as he did not settle down. Our vet was out for the afternoon, but I phoned around and got a referral to a doctor in Umatilla. After a hands-on look at Robbie and an ultrasound, he was fine. The vet gave us a list of the reasons a dog could be panting. We discussed Cushing’s, and the vet did an ultrasound, but everything is clear. So, we think it was just that Robbie needed a very big poop. 💩 

When we got home the skies opened and the rain was torrential for a few minutes.

Sue and Wayne have had their time with dogs to the vet. Yesterday it was Shorty, today it was Julius and Chiki. (Mark suggested they have a vet stay at the house.) 😜

That’s it for today. After doing the iPhone update 13.1.0 both our phones are acting up and many of the apps are not working. 🤷‍♀️

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Good morning sunshine! We have a big task ahead of us today. The back of the house is grubby after the heat and humidity of summer!

I tackled the inside Sunroom windows ... took down all the sheer curtains for washing, cleaned the window tracks and the glass. There’s plenty of windows so the job took the better part of the day. Mark sprayed and scrubbed the exterior, cleaned the screens and soffits. Whatta team. We made a decision to expand the stony patio for more seating room. That’ll be FUN! 

Bee was checking out the pile of curtains (32) so I put her into the mound of them. She played like the curtains were leaves! Funny girl. 

It was a good day! Lots of work bit a feeling of accomplishment. I’m leaving most of the sheers down for Christmas. 

Tomorrow’s fun is the monthly luncheon with my neighborhood peeps. Dawn’s off work ... so she’ll be joining the fun. 🥰

Robbie’s ready for dinner ...

😍🐾💕

Monday, October 14, 2019

Good morning! We enjoyed coffee on the super-clean front porch! The owls were hooting ... and we were on bear-watch. I haven’t filled the bird feeder as neighbors a few streets away had a big visitor. 🐻 

Today, we’re taking the boat for fueling up and having lunch at Palm Gardens. It’s a fun treat for the dogs. 

What a gorgeous day ... mid 80’s and a light breeze.