A Pictureless Update

Hello, my friends. I hope you all are doing well, and 2017 has been good to you so far. A lot has changed since I last posted. We even have a new President now. WOW! I've been fine, but I sure have missed not traveling and camping. As for my buddy Gary, he has been as busy as usual with projects around the house, and maintaining our booth at the antique mall. In-between all the work, he had some MAJOR dental work this month that put him out of commission for a few days. I tried to make him comfortable while he was on the mend. I think I did a pretty decent job, but you'll have to verify that with him. He's been back to the dentist for two follow-up appointments. In addition to the dreaded dental work, Gary has managed to sneak out of here and have some fun on a few occasions. He's been to the gigantic Webster Westside Flea Market twice this month, the Renninger's Antique Extravaganza in Mount Dora once, and the Sumter County (near Webster) car show once. Good old reliable Dodge (my best buddy other than Gary), has been serving extra duty with all of these events and appointments. Casper, the 2003 van that Gary usually drives for most things other than towing me, has been parked for a leaking water pump. That's another project that Gary has worked on when he's felt like it. He HATES working on vehicles since he discovered how cool it is to work on travel trailers. I'm sure that Dodge will be happy when Casper gets fixed, so he can take a break and get some rest. After all, he has a whopping 260,000 miles on him now. For the most part, we haven't had many days that were cool enough to not have the air conditioner running. Gary and I love the winter time in Florida, and it's disappointing that we haven't had more cool days to enjoy. We're hoping that will change. In other happenings here at Green Acres, Gary had to have the large oak tree in our front yard removed. It was damaged by Hurricane Matthew back in October. It posed a danger to the house, so it had to go. The tree's removal was especially sad for me, because it provided a home to a lot of the neighborhood squirrels. I LOVED watching them chase each other up and down that tree, and eating their meals on the tree's limbs. With the tree gone, I don't see nearly as many of my furry-tailed little buddies as I used to. Dorsey, the storage container that was recently purchased, has gotten cleaned inside, and is ready to get some nice white paint on his interior walls. Then he will get shelves, a work table, and other improvements. Things are moving along nicely here at Green Acres in 2017, yet there's still so much to do. I wish I could help, but manual labor just isn't my thing. My only value is being the best little camper I can be, and I'm REALLY looking forward to a couple of planned trips in February, where I can remind Gary how fun I am to have around. Sorry I don't have any pictures to share with you. I think this is the first time I've ever done a post without at least ONE picture. I'll try to do better next time. Take care, have fun, and I'll chat with you soon from a campground far far away.

Meet Dorsey, The Green Acres Storage Container

Well, I told you I would keep you informed of any big happenings here at Green Acres, and boy have I got a BIG one to tell you about today. This is Dorsey, a former semi-trailer who retired from road travel, lost his wheels, and became a full-time storage container. He is 45 feet long, over 8 feet wide, and over 9 feet tall. He last resided at The Great Expectations Auction Company here in St. Augustine, but was no longer needed. Always looking for additional storage for all his stuff, Gary bought him and had him transported here to Green Acres. Getting Dorsey into our yard was a challenge. The road in front of our house is not very wide, and there are ditches on each side. To help, Gary removed two fence posts and a section of fence. Still, getting about 70 feet of truck, trailer, and container turned sharply enough to get into our yard was a major job for the delivery driver. One additional fence post got hit and broken, but Gary has fixed it and replaced the posts he removed. All is well. We're just glad that Dorsey is here. There was a bit of miscommunication between Gary and the delivery driver. Gary had solid concrete blocks stacked up to put under Dorsey as he got unloaded, but the driver dropped him off before there was a chance to put the blocks in place. Having Dorsey sitting directly on the ground was not an option. So, the following day after delivery, Gary used his 3-ton Harbor Freight floor jack to lift Dorsey up and get the blocks under him. I thought that job was going to be impossible, but Gary made it look pretty easy. As he always says, it's easy when you have the proper tools. As time permits, Gary is planning on running power to Dorsey. He's also going to paint him inside, and build LOTS of shelving. I'm reasonably sure that all of that will happen before the weather gets too hot here. As you know, in Florida there aren't many days that aren't hot. We have very few days of winter, and an equally small amount of spring days. You're probably wondering where Dorsey got his name. It came from his manufacturer, the Dorsey Trailer Company in Alabama. We couldn't think of a better name for him, so Dorsey it is. Welcome to the family, Dorsey. We think you're going to like it here.

New Year's At Lake Griffin

Happy Belated New Year's, my friends. I hope you all are well and excited about the year ahead. Gary and Dodge and I are fine, and hanging out here at Lake Griffin State Park in Fruitland Park (Leesburg) Florida. Today is actually our final day here for this visit. I tried to complete a blog post earlier, but Gary's phone has been malfunctioning. His phone has the mobile hotspot we use for our internet connection, and when it doesn't work, we are lost. It's amazing how dependent we all have become on modern technology. The phone is working okay at the moment, so I'm going to try to get this post done before it fizzles out again. I guess there's going to be some shopping for a new phone when we get home. This is our seventh time here at Lake Griffin, and the fifth time we've camped in this particular campsite. This park is far from being on our list of favorites, but our campsite is. It's secluded and cozy, just the way we like them. The only reason we have stayed here at Lake Griffin as often as we have is because of the park's location. It's close to several events that Gary likes to attend. This time, he has gone to two events in nearby Webster while we've been here. You may have noticed in the pictures that my air conditioner is attached. Except for one day, the temperature has been a nearly steady 83 degrees, and that's much too toasty to be without something to cool my innards. That air conditioner is a blessing. I didn't remember TV reception being all that bad here, but we've had a lot of problems with it this time. With my antenna in it's usual location, we couldn't pick up any channels. Gary bought a 10 foot piece of conduit, and mounted my antenna to it. With the antenna out from under the trees, we're getting four channels. Not great, but good enough. The roads through the park are unfortunately not paved. The dust in the air is pretty bad, especially in some of the campsites that are closer to the road than ours is. There's a boardwalk from the road closest to our campsite that leads to the restrooms. Gary says they are older, but are quite nice. They've always been clean and well maintained during our visits. For long-term campers, there are washers and dryers available for use on the south end of the restroom building. As for things for you humans to do here at the park, your possibilities are very limited. There is no access to Lake Griffin without some sort of watercraft. Heck, you can't even see the lake from the boundaries of the park. There's a boat ramp and kayak rentals, a picnic area with a playground for the kiddies, and two very short trails. The nature trail leads from the campground to the picnic area, and has a small amphitheatre along the way. The other trail, known as the Live Oak Trail, is even shorter than the nature trail. Along it's path is what is supposedly the second biggest oak tree in Florida. I'm not so sure about that. Campers are warned about black bears in this area, but in seven visits, we have never seen any. All in all, Lake Griffin isn't a very memorable park. As I said, we just come here for the convenience of being close to certain events that Gary enjoys. We'll be back, but not sure when. Tomorrow we head home. There won't be any more camping for about a month, but I'll try to keep you posted on the latest happenings at the Green Acres Garage. As you know, there's ALWAYS something newsworthy happening from there. Until next time, have a safe and happy 2017. Bye!