IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, OMG IT'S A LITTLE GREEN LIZARD IN OUR CAMPER!

WHAT CAN I SAY, I was pulling down the shade when we got to Stephen Foster State Park and there was a little green lizard on the window sill. I called Jim to talk the lizard in to vacating the premises but he was too quick for Jim so we are sharing our camper with the green lizard. YUCK!

We woke up on Mon. morning and rain - rain - rain. Jim and Frank went to "The Bass Pro Shop" whatever, sounds as much fun as water boarding. He was home by one and at two since it has stopped raining and the sun was shining, I went to the gulf to Delnor Wiggins State Park. Nice beach and it's a straight shot from the house so I won't get lost. Jim didn't want to go to the beach so he stayed home with the kids. I got there by two and stayed till five. Brought a bag and a book, so fun shelling and reading. Lots of wind and only about 72 but I loved it.

Made wonderful hamburger steaks and baked potatoes for dinner. We walked the circle for the last time around the lake into darkness, it is really a beautiful place after dark. It is so well lite.

Tue. morning I got the bug to do laundry for the last time since I was too lazy last night so we did and we were able to clear out of Lake Crystal RV Resort by 9am. A lovely park, a truly lovely park.

We got to The Ringling Brothers Complex, it's 60 acres, I wanted to tour the Art Museum, Sharon was telling me its one of 10 best museums in the US. She didn't exaggerate one bit. It was massive and so very beautiful and rivals the Minneapolis Institute of Art in many ways. Very very impressive. We bought the book from the museum. Then we went through the Rose gardens, over 1000 plants and only took pictures of the mansion, we were there 4 hours and had to press on. We left the kids in the camper. It's home to them.

We grabbed a quick bite at BK and got to Stephen Foster State Park by 7:30 pm or so and we were parked and set up by dark. It's almost 9 and I am headed there too.

Will add pictures tomorrow. Too tired.

RAINY MONDAY - GETS ME DOWN

It only gets me down because I may not be able to go to the beach shelling. This is my last day in warm FL, and I want it to be at the beach, Delnor Wiggin's Beach to be exact. Frank Yates is either picking us up or we are picking him up and they are fishing at the pier at the state park while I comb the beach. Only the thing is it started raining about 4:30 yesterday and has been sprinkling or raining ever since though I don't hear any thing going on right now. I have been up for about 1 1/2 hours, I wonder why? If I am having problems sleeping in FL what is it going to be like in Remer. I will be up even earlier. Whoops I spoke to soon, it's raining again. Oh darn.

Well yesterday was a fun day. I have some pretty awesome pictures Jim took at the Naples Orchid Show. We first went to our last church service here at the park, We had two guests vocalist and one gave the sermon. The gospel yesterday was the story of Mary and Martha, Mary washing Jesus feet and drying with her hair and Martha working serving a meal. I of course wanted to purchase their CD and did but I want you to know the two women singing were Oh So wonderful. Whoops it's raining again. We probably won't be going to the State Park.
After church we went to the fenced in dog park, our dogs just don't understand the social interaction with other dogs, what was fun was they had two separate areas for the dogs, one area for large dogs and one for small dogs. We were doing fine until a dog came in and attached one dog, someone had to get in and save their smaller dog and then the darn dog attached another dog and this time someone stepped in and picked up the dog doing the attacking and handed him to his owner and suggested he put the dog on a leash but the owner said not to get aggressive with him. With an owner that thinks their dog does no wrong, we decided it was time to get out of there. I could just see our dogs becoming victims.
We couldn't go to the Naples Orchid Show until noon, you should see those orchids. Every imaginable color and shape. Oh so beautiful. We also stopped at the Naples Art Museum, didn't go in because on Tue. we are going to an Art Museum on the Ringling Brothers Campus. Beautiful grounds, we were next to the Naples Philharmonic Center and Johnny Mathis performed a one time show last night, it was sold out and could have been sold out 3 times over, tickets were $98 each. One price. Out of our league. We got home about 3:30. Had wonderful pork chops for dinner.

PICTURES

As you can see I can't delete pictures from my blog - just post them and I posted the same one twice. I was messing around with sizes and would like to delete one I duplicated and John I haven't been in facebook forever. I suppose I should.

SAT AND WE WERE BUSY BUSY BUSY - WE SAW RON & POLLY IN AM - FRANK & HELEN IN PM.

Boy what a busy day, too busy because we had to leave the babies for hours at a stretch, felt bad about that, at 11 we had to be over at Ron & Polly Maki's, the first thing we did is put down the top on his convertible, I love it, and then he drove up around hi complex, they have a beautiful swimming pool, even has an island in it and they even serve food at a pool restaurant. He drove us over to one of their ponds and there is a huge alligator sunning himself. Here I haven't seen any alligators and all I had to do was go over to Ron and Polly's "Sterling Hills" complex. When the alligators get over 5 feet you can call the city and they are supposed to relocate them or something. This looked like a really big alligator.

I did it, I posted a picture to my blog. What an achievement. I wonder if I will remember how I did it, Mac told me to look for the picture icon but I could never find it and today I found it. Mac, it's so tiny. Let's see poor vision in one eye and blind in the other. Hummmmmmmmmm what' wrong with this. Anyway didn't Jim do a wonderful job on this. Now I can load lots of pictures and it's only 3 days and we leave for home. I think the thing I will be happiest about is getting away from all the traffic and people. My goodness there are a lot of people here. Millions. This is their home.

Next we drove around and around trying to find a parking spot at Barefoot Beach, there are supposed to be lots of shells there. Ron and Jim finally let Polly and I off and we set up headquarters at the beach, when the guys came we went to the snack shack and had polish dogs and then Polly and I got serious about shelling. As you can see we weren't the only ones. It's Polly's back you see at the beach.
Picking up shells at the beach is so relaxing. The temp at the beach was 78 but the water temp was only 63, pretty cool for swimming.

We then went to an ice cream shop for cones. Fun as you can see Jim was impressed with the throngs of people there. Ron and Polly are in the foreground on the left.

We left at 3 pm and hurried home to clean up to get to Frank and Helen's by 4 pm. What a whirlwind day, I had to shower because I was all sandy from the Ocean and beach, Jim of course didn't even take off his shirt. There is a picture of us at a bait shop right outside the beach, the picture says it all, Ron was saying everyone stops there to take their picture because of the name of the shop, why should we be any different.

It looks like I need to put my pictures in backwards to get them to follow the story, oh well, ones first try can hardly be perfect. I wish it would get light out, when we take the dogs out in the morning or at night we always need to take a flashlight with and need I say why. We have picked up bags and bags of the stuff.

We went home and cleaned up, took a shower in the camper, it's a drag because I have 4 garbage bags of huge pine cones in the dogs kennel in the shower and it is cumbersome. What a twit. We got over to the Yates by 4:10 so not to bad. They weren't ready because we weren't supposed to be there till 4:30. Miscommunication. Better early than late I say. We went to their clubhouse for the Art Show. Was fun, wine and cheese, dipped strawberries and grapes and crackers. I brushed my teeth so I needed a cracker, wine after brushing your teeth is just plain as bad as juice after brushing your teeth. We enjoyed the show and in fact purchased a book of poems for Janet Brown. Her faith is inspiring and the author of the book of poems stated that's it's God that tells her what to write. For instance: Early each morning before the sun rises, I go into my small prayer closet and meet with the Lord. It's there that I pray, do my Bible reading and studies, and listen for my instructions for the day and write. In this quite time, I also put on the armor, in Ephesians 6, to protect myself for the day.

Won't you spend time with Him, and be about His business each day? These are the things that will help you get through the many storms in your life. Be Blessed. Author: Barbara A Hoff from Treasures in the Storm.

We had fun at the art show, Jim could do as well as some of the artist, or John and Carrie. I wonder how it is that some just have the talent to just put pen or brush in hand and create beautiful art. What a gift. We then went with Frank and Helen to "Miller's Pub" for a beer and dinner. It was good and we had fun, home by 8 or 8:30, the dogs were glad to see us you can bet. Fun day. 3 to go.

HELP - HELP - HELP

Someone has to be able to email me about how to post pictures in my blog. Mac did but I can't figure it out. Dumb Dumb Dumb!

SAT TO BAREFOOT BEACH AND ART IN THE PARK

We have a busy schedule today fut first let's do yesterday afternoon. We headed for Naples Botanical Garden. http://www.naplesgarden.org/ is the email. It was fun and they have lots of future things planned. It's hard when you compare everything to Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, we have been to one or two hat come close but we are fortunate in Minnesota. So much to see. I hope to be able to go to some state parks in Minnesota this fall.
I know we need to get home but I hate the thought of rain and frozen ground for another month up North.
We walked and walked in the gardens, they had wonderful cement paths and interesting landscaping. If you have been to the Arboretum and most of you have you just can't compare the buildings to anything we have seen. Makes me think we should join the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Jim even mentioned it.
Mac lives so close to French Park. I bet they enjoy walks there a bunch.
We have been walking quite a bit. I hear the Stumpf is working on getting "Buddy" leash trained. It takes a while.
We had a coupon from the paper about a rib place. "O B Cornerstone" was the name but the word Cornerstone was so small in the ad we had a hard time finding the place. We did find it and they had a lovely patio restaurant inside with a fountain, not much of a spray but the sound of splashing water was fun. Good ribs too, we had fun discovering the place and saved $2. Yipee Skipee! Our bill was $37 and we went for $7 ribs. Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
We sure are spending the money driving around. Heck the Ocean is 15 miles away. Jim just said it is only 7 or 8 miles away, it takes us 1/2 an hour.
We left the dogs at home yesterday but walked them around the 2 mile lake walk before we went, wanted to tire them out so they would sleep.
Will have to get up and do likewise today. Can't take them to the beach here.
Today is going to be the warmest day. I need to get the sunscreen out. I never use anything and that is silly. We have it, I will use it.

IS IT THE CHICAGO FIRE - OR NOT?

Jim got home (isn't that cute, I call the camper home) around 3ish. We loaded up the 4 bags of laundry and while I did laundry he did the shopping, he also went to Walgreen's and had some pictures made for Ron, Frank and Larry and I had purchased 3 frames so we can give them as thank you gifts for the lovely dinners we had with each of them.
He treated us with really good steaks from Publix Supermarket and for some reason - when he turned his over it started on fire under the hood, I wasn't hungry so I did my steak later, anyway it started on fire and there wasn't even a tiny spot on it that wasn't charred. I really tried not to laff but if you could have seen that steak. Here is the best part, his steak was $18. A thing of beauty. He has never spent that much on meat in his life. He ate every bite. Just think of the carcinogens he ate. Very bad - very very bad for you.
We showered and it's 10 am and we are off the the Naples Botanical Gardens. Hip Hip Hooray!

IT'S THURSDAY - JIM IS ON HIS WAY TO FT LAUDERDALE TO MEET A PRIVATE EYE

It's funny how so many of his army buddies from the "ASA" Army Security Agency have gone into law enforcement, CIA, Police Departments and this fellow is a Private Eye. Well Well Well you say, sounds interesting, I am sure it is. I on the other hand saw him off to Ft Lauderdale at 7am am reading my new series by Debbie Macomber called Heart of Texas Series, Lonesome Cowboy & Texas Two-Step, Vol 1. About 2/3rds done and can't wait to start Vol 2.

Sun is out today, it only got up to about 70 yesterday and windy, sun came out yesterday after showers about 3pm. I took off with Otto on a shopping spree. I was looking for a Goodwill store or Thrift store to look for little treasures, I didn't find either and I didn't want to go off the main drag. I didn't find them but I stopped in at a Marshall's since I needed a couple of things. Got some dog shampoo and cream rinse, I should have purchased some for myself since I could have got twice as much for half the price I paid at Great Clips. Oh well, I got some new wash cloths, mine needed replacing. Also picked up 3 picture frames on clearance.

We have to get out of this trailer and walk but it's hard because I am having so much fun reading. It's 61 degrees at 10am and should get to 72 by 4 or 5pm, I hope. dogs want to walk. Later!

MONDAY -BIG DAY FOR PJ - JIMMY HAD TO WORK

Well shut my mouth - I saw an 11 foot alligator, in the wild - a cottonmouth water moccasin, barred owl, Anhinga, several red-shouldered hawks, vultures, blue-gray gnatcatcher, brown anole lizard and lots of other birds. It was at "The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary & Blair Audubon Center", Jim wouldn't go, he said he just didn't want to walk on one more boardwalk. It was over a 2 mile boardwalk.

It's starting to rain, and we were going to go to the Naples Botanical Garden, don't want to go in the rain.

Jim is reading the local paper and if Remer has as much crime as Ft Myers we wouldn't have any people left.

There was a murder/suicide in Naples, wife blew away the husband, they were really into organic food and "migun" (beautiful health), worked at a food and thought organic market and restaurant, anyway they interviewed his ex-wife said he is passed, what kind of language is that, and she said they both were really peaceful people, well she wasn't too peaceful, she shot him and then herself. Makes me think, just how peaceful is Jim. I know he is a hard worker. We had a leak in our roof right at the speaker in the kitchen, he went on top of the roof and used 4 tubes of caulking to seal it up. He is sore today using muscles he isn't used to. It's not fun going up that little ladder to the roof. He did the repairs while I went to he swamp. I even overshot it, their signage isn't that good and it's easy to miss signs. I had to turn around and back track.

Today is a reading day. Jim has not only one newspaper but two. The Naples Daily News and USA Today.
I am sure I will have breaking news later.
We walked around the lake twice yesterday.
Once to look at lots for sale, I would snatch one up right away but Jim likes to think things through. In other words NO.

SLIDE SHOW

I have learned how to do a slide show, now I just need to get my pictures in it. I think today is beach day, we are going to look up the Gulf dog beach. Could be wonderful - could be full of you know what!

IT'S MONDAY - WHAT HAPPENED TO SUNDAY

I have to finish up Saturday. We did have fun today, we left the kids at home, met Ron and Polly at the parking lot of Michalebob's Rib Shack. They don't open till 4pm and here it is noon. Oh well, we piled into Ron's Solaria, he decided to put the top down, it's been forever since I have been in a convertible.

We went downtown to Old Naples and had lunch at "The Boathouse", I had salmon and sweet potato french fries and Jim had a white fish, can't remember the name, but it had a lemon buttery sauce. I had blackened salmon. We were right on the water and Ron said at night they have lights under the water so people can see the fish up close. It was Yummy and fun.

Then we went for a tour of Old Naples and there happened to be an open house, Ron wanted to stop so we did and what fun. It was a 20 million dollar mansion. Just the kind of house I would live in if I didn't live in Remer. RIGHT! The list price was actually reduced to $19,950.000.00. A 2 story 5 bedroom 6 bath house with elevator, and guest house of course. Living area only 9,000 sq feet, total area 13,000 sq feet. Had to be seen to be believed. So much marble I thought I was at the Lincoln Memorial. Over 200 feet of gulf beachfront. It even had fresco's on the ceiling. The fountain out front was lovely. I could go on and on but you can't imagine that someone actually lives like this. It was so exquisitely beautiful. The view of the ocean rolling in and hand painted in ground over sized spa overlooking the Gulf and beach, lets just say, KILL ME NOW. 20 million. Has to be seen to be believed. The fountain's inside and outside, the railing upstairs overlooking the Gulf was handcrafted octopuses. Anyway it was fun and if I knew how to put pictures on my blog I would.

It was a day at home on Sunday, we did church, it was wonderful again, they have some very good speakers here, Jim has been so moved by the sermons. It was communion Sunday. I decided to venture out to Wal-Mart by myself. I was looking for an inexpensive lounge to lay on. I am having a hard time throwing a blanket on he grass because in my mind alligators and snakes are alive and well in Florida. Call me crazy, anyway I wanted to see if I could get there and back without getting lost, it's 5 miles away. I did fine but left my checkbook on the table so I came home with the perishables and made lunch and went back to get the rest. DUMMY. We spent the day walking around the lake and sitting outside. It's not warm enough for me but it is for Jim. Low 70ies with quite a breeze.

SAT IN THE PARK - LA DA LA DA LA DA LA DA LA DA

I missed posting yesterday - I was just plain lazy. Jim was gone about 8 hour fishing and he did catch fish. He caught one called "A Lady Fish", I wonder if there is one called a man fish. Probably not.
We watched a movie Thurs night. "All About Schmidt", dumbest movie I ever saw, Jim got something out of it , I'm sure because the guy had a camper. It was a really bad movie.

On Friday we sure had a fun day. We went to D. Wiggins S. P. You can see the ocean from the parking lot right outside the park so we walked in. It's so fun being barefoot on the beach picking up shells. We were the only ones on the beach, and believe me for the town of North Naples to be the only ones on the beach there has to be a good reason, it was early in the morning, we got here just after 8am but the reason we were the only ones is because it started to rain. It was only a soft rain most of the time but it did turn on us. We were there shelling for about 2 hours and walked and walked. We found some pretty shells but I did find a sand dollar, Jim did too. By the time we got back to our truck we were soaked and laughing. We had beach towels in the truck from our shower that morning and we turned the heaters on the seats to warm up. We got a little chilled but it sure was fun. Jim got some great pictures of birds. He does take good pictures. I still haven't learned how to download them to my blog. Mac where are you when I need you. He was going to help me last week but we were over our min. on our phones by 100. Not a good thing. Mac isn't Verizon. I will have to talk to him tonight.

It poured all day, we had fun reading and being inside. It looks like they got between 2 and 6 inches of rain. They said that was a lot being this isn't the rainy season. We won't have it as warm as the last two days, it was in the upper 80ies. It was only be in the lower 70ies. Right now there is no wind but it always comes up. I just like sitting by the lake reading in the sun. We haven't had much chance to do that.

We did sit out by the lake Thurs night in the dark, it was so warm and pleasant, the only thing that was missing was my chimenea. The warm lake breeze flowing over us. A beautiful summer evening and no bugs. It must be what heaven is like.

Today we go to lunch with Ron and Polly, a rib place, I am trying to loose weight and watch what I eat but it is so hard on vacation. I am not eating any junk food and it doesn't seem to make any difference at all. There are so many wonderful grocery stores around. It's fun to shop in them. We are eating like kings. This nonsence will have to stop.
Today I will have to sort through my shells. I wish we could go to the Ocean every day. That would be my idea of fun everyday but if we do this again we would probably do it father North. It's just too crowded down here. Both of us would like a place with fewer people. Everyone is so nice but it fighting the traffic all the time. That's part of the reason we moved to Remer. No traffic.

There is a preserve nearby I want to go to today. It has a 2 mile boardwalk. Jim isn't too excited but maybe I will see alligators in the wild. Haven't yet, The manatees are on the move they say. It's that time of year. They said in one county alone 19 were killed by motor boats in the river. It's so sad, they are so huge. I truly would like to see a manatee. Later

LUNCH WITH JON FRYXELL

We had such a nice time meeting Jon and his friend Karin for lunch at Harold's, it's a pool bar in a motel that is now condominiums, Jon said they have the best hamburgers in town, (not true), I so remember the old days when Jon and Kathy, Lynn and Ray and Jim and I used to go on hamburger quest before the Burnsville Blaze Basketball games. What fun. Why is it so hard to find a really good hamburger? We were there about 2 1/2 hours and sat in the sun, was fun because we haven't had that much sun on vacation. Jon had two knees replaced the end of Oct. and was golfing after 6 weeks. Looks great and seems really happy.

We came home and sat outside and read, my new book is Thai Die by Monica Ferris, I have read several of her books before, she owns a yarn shop in Excelsior that she inherited from her sister that was murdered. That was many books ago, they are all murder mysteries and fun to read, I think all my authors have cats, what is wrong with dogs, I ask you.

I made chicken on the grill with baked, overcooked it, I hate when that happens. We walked around the lake and went for a walk last night in the dark, it's so neat how people decorate with lights here and they have many many street lights, it is really fun at night. Especially when it is warm and it was last night. About 70 or 75 out. Like summer all over again and here it is 11 am in the morning on Thurs the 11th and the sun just peaked out for a min., won't last but a good enough excuse to take the kids on a walk.

Jim went and picked up Frank Yates today and they are fishing. I watched a movie this morning, "Shadowlands" with Tony Hopkins and Debra Winger, the story of C. S. Lewis. It was good but sad, she dies, I hate when that happens.
Off on a walk.

WED MARCH 10TH - BOY DID WE HAVE FUN ON MARCO ISLAND

We did go to the "Grand Buffet" and enjoyed it very much. All you need is one meal a day if you go there. I had so much fun trying out every chicken dish they had. Jim didn't like it as much as the "Grand Buffet" in Rockport TX. Not as much variety and the desserts weren't as good and we all know how much Jim likes desserts.
The buffet was in a shopping mall as they often are. I wandered over to a "Tuesday Morning" store. Nothing in there I needed but I did fine a fun Margarita glass and bought it. When I got finished shopping Jim decided we would go to Marco Island, I was thrilled because they are purported to have 3 beaches.
They indeed did.
My favorite thing is the Panther Crossing or Panther Traffic signs they have the farther you get near The Everglades.
Marco Island is right next to The Everglades. Next to Everglades City anyway. We had a hard time finding the beaches. We passed up Tigertail Beach, looked private, then we saw signs for Residents Beach, looked private and then we saw signs for South Beach but couldn't find it. We finally went back to Residents Beach and found a sign for a parking lot, Left the dogs in the truck for an hour, someone leaving the parking lot gave us their pass, they were from Ontario, it is $8 to park, we took the trail through two Hugh high rises, may have been hotels, all beach front there is tall. We we walking along and the beach wasn't crowded because it was cool and cloudy and very breezy.It's funny how 74 on the Ocean can be cool.

Jim hit the honeypot, as Grandpa Wester would say, bring the coffeepot, something like that, when Jim wakes up he will have to tell me. I never get the old sayings right. anyway he found a bunch of shells, they were pretty and spiral like small conch shells, he gathered them up and put them in his jacket, we headed back and when we got back to the truck he put the shells in a gallon jug by cutting the top off and we stopped and got some rubbing alcohol and dumped on them to clean them out. Now we have to see if it works. He didn't want to bleach the color out of them.

There was a park ranger in the park when we got back and came over and talked to us about the dogs in the truck. In Collier County there is an ordinance about having animals in your vehicle. $30 fine so it was a good think we got back when we did. He just talked to us (scolded us) and told us stories about some tragedies that had happened in the past with dogs. I can understand his point of view but we would never leave the dogs there on a hot sunny day and never for more than an hour in any event.

As we left the beach the sun did start to peak out, it was a half hour ride or so to get back to our RV park. The dogs have traveled so well on the trip.

You can tell it's starting to warm up outside, we are able to sleep without the huge quilt, and I don't have to have the heat on in the morning, just the small electric heater in the kitchen to take off the chill and no jacket when I go outside.

We meet John Fryxell today for lunch at "Harry's Bar", they have wonderful hamburgers I hear. We love our burgers.

Everyday we say, "this is the day we just sit around and read". Then something comes up. I will designate March 11th as "SAD" Day. Sit Around Day! I kind of like that, and on SAD Day we have to walk around the lake twice. We need to get some exercise in.

Jim is reading WWII books and I am almost finish with "Summer on Blossom Street" by Debbie Macomber, the fourth book in a series, I started with "The Shop on Blossom Street", "A Good Yarn", "Return to Blossom Street" and now this one, I am doing this from memory so I hope I have it right. For all you fellow knitters, it's a fun read and for all you women the stories are all about friendship. Fun reads. I get to start a new book today, Yipee Skipee, I brought 8 to read and I still am finding time to knit, I want to finish my shawl.

I talked to Linda Johnson from our knitting club that I started, we have gained some new members, we call ourselves the KCiers. For knitters and crocheters. Or The Bethany Knitting Club. In any event it is still going on and I am pleased. It is so much fun to get together. I guess you can say both Jim and I miss our little community of Remer. We do have fun there. Jim can't wait to take Makons to the pond and throw sticks so she can fetch. This pond, (lake) we are on at the park, I hear has a 4 foot alligator I haven't seen yet.

TUE MARCH 9TH AND WE HAVE THE DAY OPEN

Mac sent me an email stating he does read my blog and Jim said Carrie looks at it too. I know my brother Mark does. I just wondered if the kids did look at it. I think Mac is very perceptive, he said from the blog it sounded like we were both homesick, we do both miss home. Don't get me wrong, we are enjoying ourselves and the weather, we walk the dogs around the lake, it's two miles and beautiful and pleasant, but knowing you are so far away from the kids and grand kids. Not the same.

We have an open day today. We did have plans with Jon Fryxell but he cancelled. Rescheduled for tomorrow. I think he is doing well out here. Can you imagine, he had both knees replaced. Wow.

Jim is real tired of walking on boardwalks looking at the swamp's. There is a preserve I still want to go to with a 2 mile boardwalk. Hum I may have to go alone but I can tell you this, if he doesn't take me I will get lost. I sure get turned around here.

We went to Helen and Frank Yates for lunch yesterday and they only live about 5 miles North of here. Each of the complexes have a name and I think theirs is called "Bridgewater Way" or something. It's new and quite beautiful. They are in an 8 plex. Have 10 foot ceilings and are on ground level, a view of the lake and it has 3 fountains in it. Everyone here has a lanai. At home we call it a screened in porch but when in Naples, do as they do. I just don't think I am comfortable around all this wealth. It's hard to believe people have that much money. Helen and Franks place is exquisitely beautiful, 1400 square feet, done in cool blues and sea shells. White woodwork and lots of white wicker. She just has good taste in decorating and color. So pretty. Makes me want to get home and get the painting done that I have to do. I have ceiling painting to do and we all know what a pain that is. It will be fun.

They made us a lovely lunch of salmon, salads, yummy bread and key lime pie. What wonderful hosts, we went for a walk around their complex after. Must be 500 homes in the complex. Their complex is twice as big as Remer. I just don't think at this point Jim and I are the type of people that go south to escape the weather. We travel to see things, and we have seen so many beautiful gardens and homes and we simply can't believe the homes of the very rich.

It's funny, Ron and Polly wanted to know if we wanted to rent a boat and look at homes of the rich and famous. Not our things. If we happen to be on Minnetonka in a boat we would but Jim has never enjoyed just riding in a boat to view homes. If you are going to idle your motor, shouldn't you be trolling? There certainly are other things I want to see here. We will see if he will take me. I do want to go to downtown Historic Naples. Helen said that each block there ends at the gulf. Would be fun to just walk around. We don't want to go an an air boat ride. Too much noise. I will have to ask Mac about that. I think he did that.

Today is the day I do laundry and give Otto a bath. It's time. Jim suggested I do it in the sink in the camper. Maybe I will. I have always snuck him in the handicap shower and done it there. Seems tacky to do that here. I will do it in the sink.

I think we will go to a Chinese buffet today. There is one nearby and we have been wanting to try it out.

It is not that easy getting to the ocean here, there are lots of small shells but if I want the sand dollars and really pretty shells I think I will have to buy them.
Later

MONDAY - I DON'T KNIOW IF ITS MARCH 8TH OR MARCH 15TH

Here it is the second or third week of Florida. Not sure. Time just has a way of getting away from you.
Yesterday we went to church at the camp. Wonderful worship service and message. We then took a drive through Naples and down to Collier-Seminole State Park where we couldn't get reservations because we wanted to check it out. We took a nature walk there but Jim is really glad we couldn't get in. It probably is the worst park we would have stayed in and we would have been there two weeks. Yikes.
We have such a lovely spot here up North of Naples. Seems North of Naples though it might me East.
Jim also drove me to a beach nearby and dropped me off. He had no desire to look for shells or as they say down here, shelling. Anyway I walked barefoot for a half an hour or so and it was fun. Lots of people were out and some were walnut in color they were so tan.
He said we could go early today but he would have to get up.
We will see. I know we are going to go over to Frank and Helen's for lunch at noon.

SUNDAY - SWEET SUNDAY - WITH NOTHING TO DOOOOO

It is early today - it seems early anyway. It's 6am, I have been up for awhile. Coffee is good today.
We had a very nice day yesterday. We went to the showers and then took the dogs for our 2 mile walk around the lake. It is fun to see what individuals have done to their lots to make them unique. We are going to church today at the main hall here at 9am then out to a beach. There is a wildlife preserve I want to go see with a 2 mile boardwalk.
Crystal Lake itself used to be two quarries. They are about 55 feet deep. One smaller lake and one larger one. We sure see lots of wildlife here right next to our shore.
We went over to Ron and Polly Maki's yesterday. He is the fellow that got me the interview at CH. We had such a nice time and Polly put herself out with lunch. Lunch indeed, we had salad, steak, baked and fresh warm homemade lemon pie for dessert. They live in a huge complex in their own 3 bedroom home about 9 miles from here. They said there were 14 tennis courts in their complex. They are huge into tennis. Haven't seen them for years so it was fun. He was saying Carrie yelled Hello at him last summer and he was so disappointed they were sitting down to dinner He wants her back so she needs to call him next summer and they will put on some steaks and would love to have her family stop by and visit by boat. He was really excited she would stop and say hello.

We left there and went to a pet store for the dogs. Got them some new chews and I talked to a sales clerk about "Greenies". Otto's teeth could use some work. She said she just watched a movie on usage of them and they should have one every day to get the stuff out of their teeth. I will have to look into that.

We drove out to "Barefoot Beach" we didn't go in. You need to pay for parking and they don't allow dogs, even to leave in cars. She said they had one incident last year where they lost a dog. Who would leave a dog in a hot car. We wouldn't, we will probably go back but leave the dog in the camper. This is their home and they will be fine for a few hours. We couldn't believe the homes along the drive to the beach. Millions, and millions of dollars there. Where does it come from. It's funny I feel so rich because I can take a vacation and in comparison, I probably am not. I don't care because I am rich enough for me and so very happy.

We have had bacon and waffles for the past two days, it's bacon from home from a restaurant in Deer River. We bought 7 pounds of it when we were there for breakfast one day. It's so funny, at home, you go in a cafe, if you like the bacon you can buy it in bulk and take it home. I can't imagine doing that here.

We came home and sat by the lake reading. What a pleasant day. It was over 60 degrees, maybe even more. Sun was warm and Jim loves it when it's not too hot. He is already looking forward to being at home. I miss home but love being able to not be cold. I could have worded that better - I wish my kids would read my blog but I don't think Ali and Skye do. Or Carrie or John. I think Mac does and maybe River. I do it more for me anyway. Helps me remember the funny stories. Jim and I are having such a nice time and haven't gone nuts over the small space. I think it's because we can be outside so much. I think my brother Mark looks at my blog but Heidi doesn't. Not her thing and face it, we talk every day. Too fun. I just love cell phones but we went over 100 minutes last month. Whoops! Why can't everywone be Verizon? I still need to learn how to put pictures on my blog. Sho much to learn, so dumb about computers. Boy kids have it all over the older generation.

I HEARD A ALLIGATOR - IN THE DARK - YIKES

Well it's true, It was 4:30 am and the dogs wanted out and I of course planned on taking them to the closest grassy area and that of course is the grass in front of the camper by the lake and I had no flashlight, and walla - a huge splash in the water, too big to be a fish, Jim has seen a small alligator yesterday but I hadn't. I then took the little guys to the grassy area across the street where there are only Lions, Tigers and Bears. Oh My!

What next, Burmese pythons? On the news at some local preserve in Naples, they found one on a path that was over 11 feet long and could easily kill an adult. They took it to a place to put it to sleep. I couldn't live here. Too many things that can kill you. I love the weather and Palm trees.

Jim and I went over our minutes on the phone - probably my fault, I just don't get the whole phone thing, one shouldn't be limited to minutes. They are lucky we choose to use their service. Sure PJ you tell em.

Here it is Sat. already. I have no idea where the week went. I honestly don't remember if we arrived on a Sun. or Mon. I know I just sat around two days and it was wonderful. Jim went fishing and to lunch with a high school friend, Frank Yates, they fished here at Lake Crystal at a dock, Frank's son Johnathon was with also, he is down for 2 weeks to see his parents.

The next day Jim had to get the oil changed on the truck and then go to Tires Plus and get the tires rotated. Here in Naples with all the traffic, it took most of the day, but it was important to get that stuff done.

We decided yesterday on Fri. to go to the Edison/Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers. We enjoyed it very much, especially the trees and plants. Edison really did experiment with all of it for filament for his lights. Grew so many different trees and now they are 80 some years old. Just a beautiful place right next to Henry Ford's winter place. Herbert Hoover even stayed there and he was good friends with Firestone. So funny to see so many familiar names. It's on the Caloosahatchee River, and is it ever wide at tat pot. More like a bay than a river. It was a fun 3 - 4 hours. We parked in a lovely spot in the shade and the dogs were fine. We even leave bowls of water for them but they never seem to touch it. I think they just sleep and bark at passing cars that park.

When we got home Jim had to research where he could exchange a tank, I don't know if I ever mentioned when we were in Rockport TX we went to an estate sale. Jim purchased and old Bar-B-Q grill for $20 and removed the tank. That's all he wanted, I found an old oval tin barrel and stand that had been used for holding beverages, the stand is really rusty but I thought it would make an interesting plant holder. Only $10. Anyway it was fun. The gas tank was almost full and ours on our grill was almost empty so we felt lucky to get a tank so cheep. The funny part is somehow that tank became loose and all the gas leaked out yesterday so Jim had to get it refilled. He did that when we got back from our tour Too fun.

I don't know what today brings but I think we have dinner plans at 2pm with Ron and Polly Maki. An Army buddy of Jim's and he is the headhunter that used to work for Ray at CH. He gave me the lead for a job there and 16 years later, I retire. And a wonderful 16 years it was. Loved the job, have many a good friend there still.

NAPLES - WE MADE IT

I am having so much fun!
I was so excited I didn't sleep well our last night at Stephen Foster State Park - we heard rain was in the forecast so I woke Jim up at 3am. I could hear heavy thunder and thought I would rather have him drive without heavy rain.
Guess what - when we left at 4am it started to rain, I didn't want him driving in the dark, now I not only have him driving in the dark, I have him driving in the rain. It just keeps getting better and better.
It was funny when we left the park.
You are locked in, need a code to get out, we finally figured out how to open the padlock that opens the gate, in the rain, Jim drives through and I am outside closing the gate when I see that the camper has caught a branch on a tree, guess what, the TV antennae is still up, he has to go in the camper and crank that down.
We are a pair. We do have a check list but don't look at it.
It is a huge branch and I have to drag it off the road, in the rain.
We leave and have 336 miles ahead of us to get to Naples, we do so, in the rain, in the dark.
What a hoot, we drive for 3 hours in the rain, in the dark with all the trucks, we have to admit the roads here in FL are wonderful, we have 3 lanes at least for the first 3 hours that are in wonderful shape, everyone is whizzing by us, must be because of the good roads.
Our rig is working beautifully, we only had the one incident with the blown out window and it worked out just fine. Of course we don't open that window now because the frame got bent and it's just too hard.
We finally stopped for breakfast at McDonald's when daylight came, in the rain.
Got to Naples around 11:30am, certainly far sooner that we thought, in the rain.
Clouds broke and sun came out when we arrived. So beautiful, 74 degrees, I did remember seeing the Ringling Brothers Museum Sharon told me about. Would like to see it but I have no idea what we will be doing for the next two weeks. Maybe just sitting on my chair reading and walking the dogs.
We took them on a long walk in the afternoon and used the shower facilities.
Lovely is all I can say. Two huge swimming pools and 3 hot tubs. Jim is not interested and the thought of me in a swimsuit kind of makes me sick.
Fatty Patty is just too hard to take.
I have given up eating in between meals and snacks. I don't see any progress yet.
Oh pounds - find someone else to hang out with.
Later!

LEAVING STEPHEN FOSTER STATE PARK

It seems we are always on the go but I want you to know we really enjoyed Stephen Foster S. P. - it's lush and lovely. So much Spanish moss hanging around. It's 3am and I couldn't sleep, can't be because I went to bed at 8pm.
I so wanted to watch the Dolley Madison special on Public TV. I lasted 10-15 min. We got here on Sunday and spent the afternoon on a walking tour of town. Stephen Foster wrote so many southern spirituals.
Old Black Joe, Suwanee River, Oh Suzanna, Beautiful Dreamer and hundreds more. They have a million dollar bell tower in the park that peels out his music. A museum and shops with tradesmen in them.
We had fun walking around the park yesterday and just sitting relaxing and reading. I am on my 5h book I think.
I can hear big thunder outside.
It's supposed to downpour during the night but hasn't hit yet.
I feel like waking Jim up so we can head South before it rains.
Easier driving without rain I say.
I will learn to attach pictures soon.