Turkey and College FOOTBALL!!

We hope you all had a fine THANKSGIVING. We sure did!

It's very sad for me to report that our friends, Bob and Molly Pinner, lost their niece Kristy, about midnight Thanksgiving day. She is the young Mother of 4 that I mentioned in my last post. This is an extremely tough time for the family and our heart goes out to them. For just a month short of a full year, Kristy fought this dreadful, painful disease and all of it's complications. We know so well what they are going through, as it was just a few months ago that our Son Scott lost his battle to this same dreaded disease. Right up until the last, we were so sure he would get well, then in just a few days he was gone! I have been following Kristy's Blog closely and when I read that she had been put in the ICU unit, it brought back sad memories. When Scott went into the ICU, he never made it out, neither did Kristy. God Bless them both. The only comfort is knowing that they are no longer suffering. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the family.



(click on all pictures to enlarge)

The "Boys" and Sue gathered outside with the usual discussions. We all tried to stay in the shade, as it was quite warm.

The gals were inside arranging all the GREAT food!


Two of the 5 tables of delicious dishes everyone had prepared.

A few short minutes later and this Turkey was GONE!!! Everything was GREAT!!! Another SUPERB Thanksgiving feast that we so thoroughly ENJOYED!!!!


Below are a few current up-to-date pictures of RETAMA VILLAGE. It has come a long way since we were here last year.
(click on all pictures to enlarge)

The Clubhouse is all finished and is it BEAUTIFUL!! You should see inside,,,very NICE!! This is the first thing you see as you pull into the front gate.



This is on the south side behind the Clubhouse and is the entrance to the Patio and pool area. Notice the big Fountain,,,it is bubbling with flowing water, and HUGE!


The Hot Tub in the foreground and the 2 bigger pools behind. The big pool has 3 lap lanes.


Also, on the patio just outside the Clubhouse, is this Outdoor Kitchen, with outdoor grill, oven, cooler, sink and more. (JRoger, I can see you (and mr.E. Times) having a ball in this Kitchen!;-)

Turn around from the outdoor kitchen and this is what you see, more patio and the pools. On the right from the pool is another building that has a large Craft room and Showers, plus Laundry Room and full Gym with super equipment...... Nice set up.

In the weeks to come, I'll show you more of what they are doing in this complex. They have started building RV Ports, with Casitas and also houses, all inside a Gated area and well maintained. There are several lots of your choice available and although they have gone up in price since most of us bought, we still feel it's a bargain. Come on down and take a look, who knows ??...you might do like so many of us and decide to put down some roots. 80 deg + on Thanksgiving day isn't bad!:-)...............Of course, it will probably cool off and get clear down to 70 around Christmas..... They do have a large public Campground with around 300 sites right next door!!

Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts and comments below or in the Shoutbox.
Love hearing from you all.....

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Come on back Wednesday.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday morning.

PS. For those of you that have been THINKING of purchasing a Tire Pressure Monitoring System for your RV or Trailer, NOW IS THE TIME!!!

We are having a Christmas SPECIAL,,,,,,,,,,,During the month of DECEMBER, we will be giving a FREE $50.00 SENSOR with each System of eight Sensors or more. Plus, we have other "freebies" right now.......including FREE SHIPPING and NO TAXES. Check our web site here: PressureProSystem and give us a call........ Remember Tire Pressure Monitoring is one of the SAFEST things you can do while traveling...........Be Safe,,,,,Mike & Pat

magic supplies

Thanksgiving Eve 2008,,,,Mission, TX

We can smell the food cooking now. Tomorrow is a BIG DAY!! Some call it "Turkey Day". About 20 - 30 of our friends will be gathering for Thanksgiving Dinner. The gals have been grocery shopping every day for 3 days. They will spend the next day and a half preparing their "speciality dishes".

We will have 3 turkeys....2 Deep Fried and 1 Roasted. Jim Brumfield has volunteered to deep fry 2 of the turkeys. He had a "test run" a couple of days ago and asked us if we would like to sample the finished product. He gave us a leg and thigh and BOY...WAS IT GOOD!! That wet my appetite, as if it needed wetting! Wish you all could be here with us. We'll be thinking of you....

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Bob and Molly Pinner ..................... http://moonriverandwe.blogspot.com/ (bob & Molly's Blog)

Meanwhile, I would like to ask all of you to direct some special prayers to a young Mother that is extremely ill with Leukemia. Kristy is the niece of our RV'ing friends Bob and Molly Pinner. I follow Kristy's Blog, posted by her family very, closely every day. For nearly a year, Kristy has been fighting this dreadful form of cancer......... How well we know what she is going through. It's so hard to know what to say,,,,,,but I know how tired she is of fighting this battle. She needs everyone's prayers and support. I see her going through so many of the things that Scott went through....

Please take a moment from your busy schedule these holidays and follow along with Kristy and help her fight this battle. http://kristysite1.blogspot.com/ Right now she is battling some new complications ,,,,,,,,,,,My heart hurts so much for her,,,,,,,,,,Thanksgiving will be tough for her and her family. I pray that she gets better and is soon back with her family. She is now seeking a second bone marrow transplant........ Please GOD be with her and guide her through this tough time.

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!! I count my blessings and wish you all the best.

Thanks for stopping by.........
It is a GREAT WEEK !!!!

Mike

Back on our lot at RETAMA VILLAGE in Mission, TX.

Here we are back at one of our favorite places, Retama Village in Mission, TX., about 1/4 mile from the Border of Mexico....right near the Rio Grande River. It is about 1500 miles straight across the Gulf of Mexico to Miami. The temperature was in the 70's when we arrived yesterday and the low last night was 56 deg. Click on "our location" on the right. If you remember, we spent about all of our time here last winter fixing up our COACH HOUSE.
(click on all pictures to enlarge)

This picture was taken last year just after we arrived and got situated. It looks almost the same this year, except the roses, flowers, shrubs and trees have grown considerably.

Last year this tree wasn't anywhere near our Teton, This year I had to cut some of it off as it was scraping on the back cap, picture window and top.

This picture was taken last year just after we had started work on the Coach House. We are putting in a BOXED ceiling......

The Ceiling is finished and painted....


Here is the finished living room area. We also have a full bathroom with a nice shower and a 20 gal. water heater. So both Pat and I enjoyed nice, long HOT showers last night! After a long drive and a BUSY and FULL past several weeks, we are ready for some R&R to recuperate!!

We will be here about 2 months, then head on to another one of our Favorite Spots, ARIZONA! See you soon Mikel, Paul and Nancy, and all the rest!!!

Meanwhile, we have a lot to keep us mighty busy while we're here........there are at least 10 other Heavy Duty Trucks and many, many of our friends already here. This place is beautiful, as they continue to progress and complete the construction of all phases. I will show you more pictures of how it is coming along in the weeks ahead....

Here are some pictures(more than you want to see!!) from my Web Albums of some of the construction last year while we were here.. http://picasaweb.google.com/wb4pdo/FinishingInsideOfCoachHouseOct2007

Many of you checked out my Wednesday Blog post and told me you enjoyed the Mid-Week post, so I'll continue......Stop back Wed!!!!

Thank you all for stopping by and your comments and emails........We are still working on our Verizon Air Card usage problem...Hope to have some news for you about that soon.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!

Mike




This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday....

It's WONDERFUL to see FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!!

We are now in Meridian, MS........Home town of our good Neighbor and Friend Jim Brumfield. Jim has a waste management business here and a fleet of about 30 trucks,,,,,,many Mack's and Volvo's. He has his own staff of Mechanics and they agreed to look at our Volvo and see if they could find a little fuel/air leak that no one else seems to be able to find. They are GREAT guys and I've gotten more information and learned more about my truck from them that I have anyone else in the 4 years I've owned it. Mike Holmes is the VP Operations Manager and a SUPER guy!!! Shannon Dotson, is his lead mechanic and spent a lot of the day yesterday looking at my truck and trying to figure out what the problem is......He is EXTREMELY knowledgeable!!!, as is Mike. These guys work with trucks all day long and have run into every problem that can be had....

We ordered some parts that we'll install today....Hopefully that will do the trick..... I can't thank Jim enough for taking such an interest in my situation and directing his guys to work on it.....!!!!

A lot of you have ask me to keep you posted on how I like the new Verizion AIR-CARD we started using instead of the Hughes Net for our internet connection.....

Well, this might not be the time, because I'm thoroughly disgusted with it. At our place in Custer,SD, although we are only a mile from the tower, it is EXTREMELY slow. I mean as bad as DIAL up!!! They say thats because it's not EVDO,,,,,big deal! When you do get in an EVDO (high speed) area, it's real good........ However that being said, you can't believe the places you go that are NOT EVDO..........Here in Meridian, MS is the second town of over 50,000 population that has no EVDO, so it is so slow its almost unbearable........Hughes Net is MUCH BETTER...

Now to top that off, we just got our first months bill from Verizon and it was $190.00 OVER, yes, OVER the basic $59.99 monthly charges. Can you believe that?....TOTAL= $250.00 for the first month's charges........ UNREAL............They say we WENT OVER the 5Gb monthly allowance. There is NO WAY we could have done that. No way that I can see anyhow. We don't download any pictures or movies, just surf the internet and emails........No one can believe we did nearly a Gb OVER the 5Gb.

Pat is working on it full force and we are learning how to watch the usage better, but we are mighty discouraged and disgusted with it right now...........Some of our friends use the internet as much or more than we do and they don't even get close to the 5Gb.......Maybe there is something the matter. We will let you know what we find and if any of you have any ideas, let us know. Pat has spent hours on the phone with Verizon and Mark Bruss and Jack Mayer looking for a solution.....stay tuned....Right now we're on Park WiFi, saving our PRECIOUS data usage with Verizion......:-(

Now a few pictures of our FAMILY... taken at Daughter Lisa and Randy's home south of Tallahassee.

Little Kylie and Great Grandma Pat

Granddaughter Megan, Great Granddaughter Kylie and Grandma Pat

Grandson Jeremy pitching horseshoes....he's pretty GOOD!!

Grandson Gabe taking his turn at a "toss"...he's GOOD, too!

Grandson Gabe and Son Scott.....I guess I'll have to say they're ALL PRETTY DARN GOOD!!

2 Granddaughters-in-law, Granddaughter & Great Granddaughter, Pat and Daughter Lisa!

4 Generations: Great Granddaughter Brianna, Daughter Lisa, Pat and Grandson Gabe

Cooking "Low Country Boil", Oysters & Stone Crab Legs!! YUM!!!

Lisa's husband Randy.....a great Seafood Chef!! And Fisherman!!

That's it for my first MID WEEK post..........Thank you all for checking back.........

Next post, we hope to be on our LOT in Mission, TX. where maybe it's a LITTLE warmer!!! (it was 27 deg here this morning)brrrrrrrr...

Take care

Mike

Drop back by SUNDAY for my next post.......

We are still enjoying North FLORIDA!!!

We are certainly enjoying our time here at Roger and Susan's place in the woods of North Florida. However, all good things do have to END. We will be departing this wonderful place tomorrow (Monday) morning early, so we can make it nearly 400 miles to Meridian, MS.


Our Good Friend and Neighbor at Retama Village, Jim Brumfield (Hogrydr), in South Texas has a mechanic that we are going to have work on our truck. It should only take a day or two, then we will be on our way to Mission, TX. We are anxious to get down to our place there where we built the new Coach House last year just before we took off for Arizona. Time to ENJOY it this year!!!


We have enjoyed watching the progress of the new "RV PORTE" Roger and Susan have been bulding here on their 10 acres.


Here are a few pictures of it:


(click on all pictures to enlarge to full screen)



As you can see, it is coming along nicely. This RV Porte is 32X60. Roger will park his 5TH wheel and Volvo under it and still be able to see all around.




This end will be the SHOP-GARAGE and the SAFE ROOM.

This area is insulated.and the back will be an ALL CONCRETE 12X8 SAFE room. Designed for anything you can imagine, including STORMS........





ALL FINISHED and I moved my rig back along side of it where we were before the construction. It has really been fun watching this RV Porte go up! All I can say is NEAT!!!!!! Gee, I would love to have one of these on our place in South Dakota,,,,,,,where it HAILS all too frequently....

Several days last week we spent enjoying Family, Friends and visiting places we hadn't seen for years. OH..... how times change things!!

It's going to be REAL HARD to leave this area!! We have so many wonderful friends and family here that we will miss. Please you all,,,,come see us in the Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, or our place in Mission, TX, or North Ranch in Congress, AZ. We would love to see you...


NOTE:
Check in mid week (WED) and I will post more pictures of Family and Friends and sights we visited..........(will post mid week at times)


Thanks for stopping by.........

Hope to see you back soon.


It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!! See you down the road.

Mike

PS: We are still selling and servicing PressurePro!!

Nice time to be in FLORIDA!!!!

(click on all photos to enlarge)

Greetings to everyone from Northern Florida! We are sitting at this beautiful spot we have nicknamed "Roger's Roost" out in the woods near Monticello, FL. We are only 20 miles from our old home town of Tallahassee, FL. It's 75-80 deg in the day time, around 50 at night and clear skies nearly everyday....while up at out place in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they are having a BLIZZARD!!!! 1-2 feet of BLOWING SNOW everywhere, power outages, roads closed and huge snow drifts larger than cars. Schools and Businesses closed. WOW,,,,,,how well I remember

that kind of weather. I spent the first 45 years of my life in that area!!

Now isn't this kind of weather better????

Here Ms Pat stands by the Birthday sign I put up out on the road at the entrance so all our guests could find "Rogers Roost" way back here in the woods.

Soon long time friends, old neighbors and family began arriving......

In the top picture is the back side of: (sitting) Rhoda Roper, (standing) Tim and Lynn Deaton, both close neighbors when we had the sticks and bricks. (that's what RV'ers call a house without wheels)

Above is a picture of our old friend Robert Parke, a well known private professional Legal Investigator, his assistant and wife Ely, then Roger Haddix and Chuck Roper visiting in the background. Waving is long time friend and retired private pilot for Bobby Bowden and all the Florida Governor's for the last 26 years, Winston Montague. What a privilege it is to see these fine folks again!!!

In the top picture is Carol Montague and Lynn and Tim Deaton...

Bottom picture.... we're gathering for the BIRTHDAY dinner!!!!


Top picture: Ms Pat and her oldest daughter Lisa. That's PAT on the left! (just kidding!) Both of these young ladies are just 39 years old!!! Lisa has worked for the State of Florida for 30+ years! She started young!!! She is a neat gal!!

Just above is another NEAT gal!!! One that can do no wrong in MY BOOK! She is my(our) pride and joy!! Megan Abell, Pat's granddaughter and her children. That's our GREAT granddaughter Kylie (11 months) in Megan's arms and GREAT grandson Dathon (3 1/2) standing. This is the FIRST time we had seen little Kylie in person..........Beautiful kids!!

Megan spent nearly every weekend at our house from the time she was 9 months until she was 14 years old. Pat was working Saturdays, Megan was home with me and we went everywhere and did everything together. What cherishable memories I have of that wonderful time!! I had raised 3 boys, so Megan was MY GIRL. I will never forget our walks on the railroad tracks behind our house, our bike rides, motorcycle rides and all the Gymnastics classes and competition meets. Megan was an excellent Gymnast and won many ribbons and trophy's. She loved ballet and to dance, play office, ride her trike and go "FAST" on the motorcycle. Plus, she LOVED happy meals at McDonald's!!! I tried not to, drive by a McDonald's, because if I did, I HAD to stop for a HAPPY MEAL!!!! Oh, those were great times.......now like so many things they are just MEMORIES. Seems like that is a lot of what life is all about when you get in these so called GOLDEN years. MEMORIES,,,,,,,, Can some of you relate? Anyhow, it was FUN having a hand in raising Megan and you can see why she is my PRIDE and JOY!!! I love her very much !!


Here is Ms Pat (top) with our most gracious Hosts Roger and Susan Haddix in front of Rogers SUPER BBQ Smoker grill!! As I said before Roger is a Professional cook and loves to do it. Above is Roger tending to the 6 Chickens and 6 slabs of Ribs and homemade Wild Hog sausages......................Smells mighty good !!!!

Well, I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures, but I was enjoying meeting all the GREAT friends and family that was here and visiting. Pictures were the furthest thing from my mind......

BUT, Ms PAT had a WONDERFUL Birthday!!!! The weather was wonderful and Pat says it was her BEST ever!!!! Thanks again to our SUPER hosts Roger and Susan Haddix and all friends and family that came. I know it was very SHORT notice. It meant a lot to us !!!!

Now, TODAY we have another BIG event planned. We're having a BIG Family day get together down south of Tallahassee at Pat's daughter Lisa and her husband Randy's place.....We're have some good old "fresh" Florida seafood....Oysters, Blue Crabs, and a Low Country Boil with lots of fresh caught Florida shrimp. YUM!! Gotta get moving and get ready for that so we'll tell you about that next week.........So much happening and time is going so fast,,,,,,,

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again next week and remember, we would LOVE to hear from you. In the comments below, on the shoutbox above, or email, phone, or come and see us!!! We have a lot to cram in during the next week!!! We only have one short week left before we head WEST!!! Leaving Monday the 17th.... Planning to be at our place in Mission, TX for Thanksgiving!!! (Lord willin!):-)

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

This Blog published every Sunday morning...

Facts: After nearly 2 years, this Blog gets just over 100 visits EVERY Sunday and an average of 50-55 every day........

Solar System work completed!!!

Good Morning!!!!! Isn't it GREAT to be alive? Exciting times!!! Wonderful weather and GREAT friends. If you remember last week at this time, we were at John Palmer's Solar farm in Lake City, Florida living off the grid and boondocking back in the woods. Check out his website: John Palmer's Energy Systems . Last Friday, we completed updating our Solar System and moved 83 miles over here to our GREAT friends Roger and Susan Haddix's place near Monticello, FL:

Location on Map

NOW, we FINALLY have the SOLAR SYSTEM that we have dreamed of and planned on having for several years....... I love it when plans finally come to pass,,,,,and work out.

We have had our 8 Solar Panels installed for a couple of years. This gave us 800 watts (48 amps) to charge the 4 batteries that the Teton came with. I knew from day one that I needed more batteries; however, Teton would not install any more. So, I have been planning this system for the 3 years we have had our new Teton....

Now we FINALLY have it!!! First, I removed the original 4 batteries

The old batteries are out. I had 2 on each side in these battery compartments. Now I can use these compartments for storage! :-)

Next, I installed this flooring back in a space that was just "wasted" empty space in the basement area.

Next, I cleared more of the "wasted" space under the belly and installed this wooden wall and mounted a NEW MAGNUM 2800K Inverter. This Inverter is TOP of the line and in my opinion, the best you can buy.

The NEW BATTERIES were delivered by truck and are ready for installation..

I removed all the old battery cable hookups and John made up these new ones from heavier 0/4 cables for me to use on the new battery bank. (the big battery you see in the upper right of the picture is one that John loaned me to use until my new ones came in)

It was a TIGHT fit and these batteries are very HEAVY, (63 lbs ea) but we got them all (8) in and hooked up. (6vt Lifeline AGM) It's so tight in this area, it's even hard to get a picture...

There,,,,,it's all COMPLETED!!!!! All back in an area that was totally "wasted" space, so I lost no usable space and gained 4 batteries. I'm HAPPY with the job and it more than doubles our battery capacity. I now have 880 amps (440 usable) where I only had 400 amps (200 usable) before. SUPERB!!!! That was my goal!!

For those of you that ask: Is this type system "cost effective"? My answer would be NO! Most Solar systems aren't cost effective. But with some people (myself included) this is a hobby, a challenge and a matter of convenience. So many things we all have are not "cost effective", but I enjoy building a system such as this and using it and making it work for us......Will we use it? YOU BET we will,,,,,,,,Will we enjoy it? IMMENSELY!!!

All the time we were here at John Palmer's Solar Farm, John was having classes and Seminars on many RV'ing subjects, mostly all directed to "DRY" camping and Solar Systems. John is one of the industry's leaders when it comes to Solar Systems. He has lots of practical experience and knowledge. If you want to learn more about it, you need to get in touch with John and attend some of his classes. He gives Seminars, not only here at his "Solar Farm" but at many of the FMCA rallies, the Escapades and several other places. What I really enjoy and appreciate about John is that he will HELP YOU do it, he will tell you what you need to do and work out any problems you might have. At the same time, he will keep a watchful eye over your work while you do it.

John "practices" everything he "preaches". He literally lives off the grid. There is no public power anywhere on his place, not even in his shop. No water well, no sewer, NOTHING!!! Just SOLAR power and GENERATORS.

This is John giving one of his class seminars. He answers everyones questions and gives all kinds of pointers on RVing. I sat in on several of his classes during my "slack" time.

Ater staying at John's place for a couple more days giving our new Solar System a "trial run" and finding that it was all working properly, we bid everyone farewell and moved on to our next destination.....:

Friday, about 1pm, we arrived at our friends Roger (JRoger on the forum) and Susan Haddix's place just North of Monticello, FL. They are having a neat NEW ADVENTURE and have purchased 10 acres back in the woods in a BEAUTIFUL spot. So here we are all set up in their yard. This place is really GREAT and we are only about 20 miles from our old home in Tallahassee. I will tell you all about it next week and show you pictures of it.

Meanwhile today we have a BIG BIRTHDAY party planned. Today Nov, 2nd is my wonderful wife Pat's birthday!!!!! We went to town yesterday and purchased 6 big slabs of RIBS and 6 whole Chickens for a COOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOT DOG!!!! We have lots of Family and tons of Friends coming out this afternoon for an afternoon of FUN!!!! and good eating. Let me tell you, Roger is the WORLD'S greatest cook. He loves doing it and is exceptionally good at it. He has a BIG professional portable cooker and has even invented his own dry BBQ seasoning called "ROGERS RUB". It's delicious and we have used it for a couple years.........It's available by order and I'll get the email address for it next week and show you pictures of my PAT'S birthday BBQ cook out. We are all looking forward to seeing old FRIENDS and FAMILY that we haven't seen for several YEARS!!!! It's gonna be a GREAT DAY!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!!!!

Thanks for dropping by and be sure to come back next week............I can hardly wait to "show and tell" about this place and all the FUN we are having!!!!

We continue to sell and service PressurePro and PowerTanks. We shipped out a few PP systems this week and hope to get more orders next week. We also had orders for 3 PowerTanks. If you're in the Monticello/Tallahassee area and would like a demo of the PressurePro or the PowerTank, just give us a call. AND, please keep telling your friends about our website: PressurePro System "Word of Mouth" is the best advertisement we can get.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

This Blog is publiushed every Sunday morning.... (giving some thought to publishing ONCE during the week, what do you think?) I have so much to TELL YOU!!! :-)