Saturday, August 28, 2010

Jacksonville and Home

We left Charleston by 7:30 AM and headed to Jacksonville; only about a 4 hour drive. It got hot in the coach by 10 AM so I turned on the generator and an air conditioner. (The engine air conditioner compressor is not working and it is more fuel efficient to use the diesel generator and a roof air conditioner.) We arrived about 11:30 as planned and pulled into the parking lot of the Crowne Paza JAX Airport Hotel. We had been invited to stay at no cost in their parking lot since that is where we are going to have the Hazelwood's reunion. Not a bad deal at all.

When I went to talk to the gal I had been working with on the reunion arrangements, I found out she was no longer there. She must have been a very recent departure since her cubicle still had her name tag on it!! Her replacement was just as easy to work with and we had most of the stuff finalized by the end of the day using only a relatively short meeting. After I signed the contract and gave a small deposit I arranged to get the final catering details cleared up the next day with the individual that handles that portion.

I had called the Naval Base last week and sent them a Tour Request via email early this week but still had not hard back from them. I had hoped to be able to get a face-to-face meeting to make our arrangements, but no luck.

During this Wednesday afternoon it got blistering hot again and I had to run 2 air conditioners to get the coach cooled down. I was concerned about running 2 since I was using the generator but we had no problems and it did not pop any breaker.

On Thursday I had my meeting with the catering gal and also had an appointment in the afternoon with a gal that has a tour bus company. I got all the catering details ironed out in the morning and by mid day she had them typed up and ready for my signature.

I used the hotel lobby lunch area as an office since I could get a solid connection on WiFi and it was cool. Carol and I had a nice light lunch there and we got to watch the Steeler and NY Giants game of Saturday on the TV. We missed the game when it was live.

The meeting with Ann of the tour bus company was very helpful. When she heard of my problems with the Naval base she said she would help as she has some connections there. All in all, it was a good trip in JAX even if I could not get on the base for personal meeting.

We got to bed early so we could depart by 7 AM as I had an appointment in Bradenton at 11:30 about my hearing aids. Yeah, I finally broke down and got a pair!! I seemed to have a problem with one. We made it in time and there was no real problem with the hearing aid.

Got home by 1:30 PM, unloaded the coach, parked it, showered and got ready to go to dinner and dancing with friends!! Jay Smith, our favorite entertainer was playing at the Punta Gorda Elks so we (5 of us) got there about 5:45 had dinner and then danced from 7 til 10. I was tired and not much of a party boy but we did have a good time.

Up at 7:30 AM this Saturday morning and getting back into the normal routine while waiting for our mail to come. That will keep me busy for a while.

More later .....

Friday, August 27, 2010

Charleston visit

It was a hot drive from Trafford but we drove to a Walmart in Rocky Hill, SC before stopping. We wanted to get south of Charlotte so we would not hit the morning traffic on our departure tomorrow. The gas station at Walmart had diesel for 2.69 per gallon when using a Walmart gift card,which is a real bargain. So I got a Walmart gift card put in 89 gallons which will take us all the way home.

We arrived at the campground about 11 AM and got settled in, took showers and relaxed before going to see Joy where she works. It was so hot that I had to run both air conditioners to get the coach cooled down. I haven't had to to that but once before out west in the desert.

We arranged to pick up Joy and Kismet after she finished work and went to dinner at Chili's. It was nice to have time to visit and get updated on all she has going on. We arranged to pick Kismet up in the morning so he and I could do a lot of swimming. We got in the pool at the campground about 10:30 and didn't get out until 2 PM.

I brought my extra fins, mask and snorkel so both of us could snorkel at the same time. I also brought my camera so I could get pictures of him underwater. He was a little reluctant to try the fins but he got used to them in a short while. He also got more used to using a flutter kick rather than kicking like he was riding a bicycle. He floats like a cork and even though he cannot really swim unless he has the mask and snorkel on, he was going to the deep end of the pool with no fear. Naturally I stayed near at all times.
As I worked more with him I got him to start diving down to get an object off the bottom of the pool. It was a real challenge for him since he floats so well. He was finally able to work from the 3 foot depth to the 4 foot depth to get an ashtray we were using.

At 2 PM we finally rested and went to his favorite eating spot Chick-Fil-A and made a stop at Walmart to get some stuff we needed. By 4:30 we were back in the pool and he stayed there until 6:30 when we had to leave to get him back home.

We had to leave in the morning to get to Jacksonville so I could do more work on the Hazelwood reunion. It was a short visit but it was a good one.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Trafford Visit

We got in Trafford on Wednesday, August 18 so we could attend the street fair on Friday and Saturday. Of course there were other things we also wanted to do. One of the first things we did was to go to DeLallo's Italian store and get some to their great sandwiched sized pepperoni. It is the best I have ever had as it has very little fat and not too hot but just hot enough. I have already eaten up the pound that we got!! Also got some of their hot and sweet Italian sausage.


We went to Parente's for dinner in the evening and I had excellent spaghetti and Carol had very good lasagna. It is a fine place to eat in Trafford.

We got a shocking call from Lorrie on Thursday morning informing us that her father passed away yesterday very suddenly. We thought we might head back to Zanesville but she said not to come back as she has a large family there for all the support she will need.

Thursday morning I took a walk out "the tracks" to see what it looked like out there. It has really grown up with trees and it was not even possible to see the old "clay banks" and the brickyard has been torn down. The RR bridge to it is gone. The walk brought back a lot of memories since I used to walk it many times in my younger days.

On Thursday afternoon we got to visit my cousin Bonnie Craig (Ogle) and Ron at their new house in Greensburg. They now have a one floor home which they both love. It is really a pretty house and an excellent location. On Thursday evening we were guests for dinner at Rey and Bibi Peduzzi's along with John and May Lou Serafin. So this was a time to reminisce more even though John lives near us in FL.

On Friday we went to downtown Pittsburgh to go to Primanti's to get one of their famous sandwiches. When they make the sandwich they put everything on the sandwich, lettuce , tomato, cole slaw, french fries, and corned beef all on thick slab of Italian bread. It was OK but not as good as advertised or expected. They have been on the Food Channel so we wanted to see what it was like. So Here it is.

Primanti's is in the "Strip District" of Pittsburgh, an old commercial area where foodstuffs were brought to town to sell. We walked around in Wholey's Seafood Market which is another place there. It is an amazing place with a lot more than seafood. It has all kinds of meats and every kind of food you might want. We were amazed that they had Maine lobster for $4.98 a pound for a 1 Lb. to 1 1/2 Lb size. Here is one we saw which is NOT a small one.

The street fair began on Friday evening and it was small as is usual. We did get to see some of the "old timers" .... Melvin Buchan and Betty and I saw Dave Paoli who was on the USS Wisconsin when I went on my first midshipman cruise. The music was loud and and it was hot and we left a little early. It did cool down nice in the evening and we did not need to use the generator for air conditioning.

On Saturday we were able to get a quart of Isaly's Whitehouse ice cream to take to Charleston for Joy. It is her favorite and I had to have cone since I also like it a lot!!

Saturday we went to the Flea Market and made arrangements to get NAVY, DD531 shirts for the lady attendees of the Hazelwood reunion if they would like to purchase one.

At the street fair I got to see Mary Jean Ruffo, Vincent Morroco and his wife Emmy Lou (Crowel), Ken Snyder and his wife Eva Jane (Bruno). It started to rain so we left early and I am not sure if they even got off the fireworks that evening.

We departed early on Sunday morning and headed for Charleston to visit Joy and Kismet.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Notes from the road

After departing Riverwalk on Tuesday DEC 10 (Carol's birthday) we stopped for the night in Valdosta, GA using the Sam's Club parking lot. Usually the diesel prices are quite good in GA but the lowest we saw at Flying J was 2.99. I decided to pass that up and I was lucky to find diesel for 2.77 right across the street form Sam's. I saved $0.22 per gallon and that adds up when you put in 102 gallons!!

Our next stop was in Monteagle TN at Dave and Lana Reagel's. They have a great summer cabin that is so large it should not be called a cabin. We stayed 2 nights there and even did a little fishing in Dave's pond. He stocks it with bass and catfish so it was easy for me to catch a couple of catfish. I also helped Dave install a new ceiling fan as the old one fell to the floor unexpectedly.

We left there on Friday and stopped in Cincinnati so Carol could go to the Otis company picnic on Saturday. It was as hot as FL but we had a good time and Carol got to see some of the folks she used to work with. Jack and Barb Blomback were there so we got to update each other. We have camped with them each winter for several years when they came to FL.

We got to Zanesville Sunday and parked in our normal golf course parking lot near our Daughter-in-laws house. The weather finally cooled down some and we are able to sleep at night with the windows open and be comfortable. We even found diesel at Sam's Club for only 2.92 which was less than on the road by more than 10 cents per gallon.

On Monday we went to Rob's grave site and did some clean up and put new flowers at the headstone. Lorrie and Brad came by at the coach and we had a nice visit for several hours. I am sure they will be getting married at some point and it is a good match. They were high school sweethearts but went there own ways when he went to college.

Lorries spent a good bit of time with us on Tuesday and we played cards and had a good time. In the evening we went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner but Dawn would not go, I think, because I did not want any texting going on while we were having dinner.

Tomorrow we leave here and head for Trafford.

Later!!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Getting ready to head north

Today I put up the hurricane shutters since we are leaving on Tuesday for about 3 weeks. You never know when a storm may blow in on us!!

With all the hot weather and the warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic I am surprised that we have not had any real storms yet. I went snorkeling in the Gulf last week and the water temperature was above 90 F. It was actually to warm to be refreshing. So I have been doing about 45 minutes in the YMCA pool 3 times a week to get my legs in shape for Scuba. The water at the Y is much more refreshing.

Even though it is not until late October when we go to St Thomas I have been contact with the Coki Beach Dive Club and have already set up our dives dates with them. If you want to see why I like Scuba so much, go to their site, http://www.cokidive.com/hotelguests.htm and look at the videos and the still photo albums. I am not in any of the pictures or video but they are very good underwater shots and it shows the beauty of the area.

We went out with friends to the Legion last night for dinner and dancing to our favorite entertainer, Jay Smith. Dinner was good but Jay called in sick about 3 PM and the Legion had to scramble to get a replacement. He was OK but he just didn't measure up to Jay and we left a little early.

I hope to take some pictures while up north and will post some on this blog.

Later, Jim

Monday, August 2, 2010

Three Quarters of a Century

Yesterday I became three quarters of century old!! Holy smokes that sounds old. But I don't think that old, even if my body sometimes tells me that I am getting older.

We had a quiet day to celebrate my birthday. Got up a little later than usual ... about 8:30 ... and Carol asked if I was going to fix breakfast. I said "I thought that was supposed to be my question on this day". So I fixed breakfast!!

We were invited by our friends, Gus and Marilyn, to have dinner with them. Marilyn's meals are always something very special and this was no exception. A superb crab meat appetizer, stuffed mushrooms and a pork loin roast. Dessert was provided by Carol as she made my favorite, pineapple upside down cake. She knows it is my favorite but I don't see it too often; but then my waistline does not really need it.

Today we went to the YMCA and I did pool laps for 40 minutes since no one was there to pay racquetball with. My legs need the exercise since I have not been on a dive for about a month and have not been doing any real amount of snorkeling. Yea, I do all these things at 75!! Carol did her aerobics while I was in the pool.

In fact today I was emailing the Scuba place in St Thomas to arrange for 10 tanks of dives during our stay in Oct/Nov.

After the YMCA I got the needed part for my motorcycle and installed it to fix a small oil leak. Success again and a repair done for $3.18 instead of $100 or more!!

So that is all for now.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Mr FIXIT

I have been lax posting and it may be due to the heat or that I have been fixing everything around here and other places. In about a week we leave for a trip up north so I better put some info on here before we leave. Earlier this month a cabinet at the clubhouse had 2 drawers that had problems with the pulls and one of the drawers was extremely tight. The one drawer was so tight that a drawer pull was actually broken and the other had threads stripped. I was able to re-tap new threads and use a larger screw to solve one problem but the other was a difficult rebuilding job. I finally was able to set a new crossbar to replace the broken one and it looked like new and did the job. It does not even look like it had been broken. Naturally the drawers were trimmed to prevent any further problems with the pulls.

Our dishwasher has been having problems for a number of months. The motor would not start but would hum. I found that if I reached under to the motor and gave it a spin with my finger (with the power off) it would then work. It did this only occasionally earlier but it now became an every day deal!! I looked up the drawings of the "works" online and found it was either the pump ($40.00) or the pump and motor assembly ($150.00). When I dug into the "works" I could not get the pump open to replace it so it would have cost the $150.00 solution. Too much to spend on an older dishwasher. So we finally found a new one that fit our needs and wallet and I installed it. It took only several hours for me to do it and it works fine.

When I turned the electrical power back on, the kitchen fluorescent light would not light. After changing the bulbs and even going to get two brand new bulbs it still would not work. That meant the ballast in the fixture was bad. So I installed a new ballast and viola, it works. So that day I spent several hours crawling around on the floor installing the washer and then several hours up and down a ladder fixing the light fixture. I was really beat after that.

While we were shopping for the washer we saw a great closeout price on an outdoor lamp post so we bought it and all the needed other stuff such as a photocell switch, the lamp and needed electrical stuff. Last week I finally got the time and strength to dig the hole, mix the cement and install it. I even installed an electrical plug that can be used for other lighting (flag pole or Xmas lights). The light adds some badly needed lighting to our street area and is a nice addition to the front landscape.

For about a month my motorcycle has been spitting out a very small amount of hot oil while I am riding it. At first I did not realize it was oil but thought it was sand hitting my ankle. When I noticed small oil marks on my right sock I did some searching and found an oily spot nearby on the front cylinder. One of the cycle shops gave me some suggestions on where to find the leak and sure enough a small gasket had a crack in it and was leaking the small amount of oil. So I now have the part out and will get a new gasket at the dealer this coming week.

I did not do this following repair job but had good help on it. Since we came back from Sebastian Inlet last month a light on the dash of the Jeep was on that said "part time". It was referring to the 4 wheel drive of the Jeep but never was on previous to this. The 4 WD was working properly except for this darn light. I tried putting the Jeep into and out of 4WD but was not successful getting it to go out. I finally went to the Jeep dealer and they weren't any help as they wanted to put it in the shop and then charge me a lot to test everything. I didn't want to pay to train their mechanics!!! So, I went to a shop I had used before and they fiddled with the 4 WD to try to find out what was wrong before giving me an estimate, which I think is the right way to do things. While doing this, the light finally went out and it cost me nothing for their help. My kind of shop!!

Well, we leave here on August 10 and will be back on August 28 if all goes as planned. We will be stopping in Monteagle, TN; Cincinnati, OH; Zanesville, OH; Trafford, PA; Charleston, SC; and Jacksonville, FL plus several Sam's Clubs and/or Walmarts during our trip. I may have some pictures of the Trafford street fair for a post about it!! Today I became three quarters of a century old. It sounds old but I still think I am a teenager in my mind. My body tells me otherwise sometimes though.

Later