Welcome Home

At long last, we are settled into our winter landing place – a comfortable campground near The House of Mouse, in Davenport, FL.  It’s a nice mix of retirees who are either snowbirds or living here year-round.  Our friends from church, Donna and Joe, have been here for the past 3+ years, so we were welcomed with open arms.  Not just by them, but everyone around.  What a great feeling, after pretty much keeping to ourselves since we set off on this RVing journey.  This is the first place where folks have been so warm and friendly.

Of course, upon our arrival, we had quite the audience.  Folks were coming by to say hello, but mostly to watch the “show” – Tim backing all 45 feet of rig into the campsite, which the campground owner was quite particular about placement of said 45 feet of rig.  We’re here for  5 months, so he INSISTED that we were situated nice and neat and tidy and STRAIGHT on the site!  What a riot that was!  Five different people telling Tim which way to turn the wheel, how far he needed to back up, no, pull forward and crank the wheel the other way, WATCH OUT FOR THE PEDESTAL!, no, it’s good………..Surprisingly, he just laughed it off!  I swore he was going to blow a gasket, but, nope.  He finally found his sense of humor!

Our arrival coincided with Halloween, and the campground owner celebrates holidays for his residents.  So, we attended our first social event a mere hours after unpacking.  A potluck dinner, and I was even able to cobble together an appetizer to contribute.  No small feat, given that we were overdue for a grocery shopping trip!  Anyway, these social events also include karaoke.  Yes, I did.  Yes, wine was involved.  No, I wasn’t hammered!  Donna pulled me up to sing with a group, and once that ice was broken, well, I volunteered to do a solo.  Little did I know that once you go up and sing once, you are permanently on the rotation!  Oops!  Oh well, no one’s ears were bleeding afterward, so I guess it wasn’t awful. 

On another note  (Pun intended!), we’ve been dealing with cranky kitties since Panama City Beach.  For some reason, Mao and Princess P started fighting viciously with one another, P usually bearing the brunt of the scuffles since she weighs much less that Mao.  We found a product called “Calming Collars” which has done a world of good for both of them.  Peace has returned.  Now that we’re settled down for the next 5 months, I think things will go back to normal (well, their new normal). 

A drawback to our campsite is that there are red ant mounds around, and they found their way into the rig.  Specifically, they were crawling all over the cat food.  We’ve known for a while that we needed to stop “free feeding” the cats for Mao’s sake since she is a stress eater and grazes constantly.  Now that we need to keep the food sealed up, we’re getting them used to feeding several times a day.  I offer it to Mao a bit more frequently than P until she gets used to a reduced feeding schedule, so I believe we’ll be able to finally get Mao to lose some weight.  She was a bit chubby before we made our move, but with being stressed out and eating to soothe her nerves, she’s gained even more weight.  P is the total opposite, and I have to beg her to eat!  If we ever shaved off all that fur, she’d look like a gremlin!  In the meantime, ant baits are scattered around outside, diatomaceous earth is sprinkled by our landing gear, vinegar, peppermint oil spray, and cinnamon oil have been employed inside, and we wait for the little pests to die off.  Ah, the joys of living in Florida!

Tim had his interview at Universal, and he starts his training on Friday (11/10).  He’ll be working in the main souvenir shop, selling t-shirts, tourist junk, etc.  No stress, people who (presumably) are happy because they’re on vacation, and he can leave work behind him when he clocks out for the day.  He’ll be working 3-4 days a week, 8 hour shifts.  No set shift, so who knows what days/time he’ll be working.  Also, it’s a given that he will be working holidays.  And that’s ok.  We both feel that we have each other, and we can celebrate anytime we choose.  Then again, with the campground celebrating the holidays, we’ll have a Thanksgiving meal and a Christmas meal provided, so I don’t have to worry about dining alone.  And, folks around here wouldn’t let me! 

We’re adjusting to other things, too.  A new vet for the kitties – she was wonderful with both the girls when we took them in to get their shots caught up.  A new nail salon for me – it was reasonable, and the pedicure was fine, but I will look forward to returning to the salon in West Lebanon, NH when we go back to Vermont next summer.  A hairdresser.  Sigh…………..no more than 20 minutes in the chair, and my hair was pretty much hacked.  At least I still have hair product leftover that I can spike it so the hack job doesn’t look like, well, a hack job.  I really miss Monica!  Still yet to find:  a dentist (who understands a patient with a dentist phobia) and a dermatologist for skin screenings.  Fun times!

In other news, it seems that we are living in an area that has quite a few Wawas – with a new one being built a mile away!  This is a pleasant surprise for us, and we had our first hoagies the other day.  They were a suitable substitute.  They even had a small supply of Tastykakes – maybe about a half dozen varieties, plus some pies.  A disappointment for someone visiting from South Jersey, but for us, having been away for so long, it hits the spot!  Now, if only they had some soft pretzels, Tim would be a happy guy!