According to the calendar, today is the first day of summer. Could have fooled me! When you live in Florida like I do, there isn't much of the year when it doesn't feel like summer. There's basically just varying degrees of humidity, and when May and June arrive, the intensity increases. July and August are the worst months, and I am NOT looking forward to that at all. UGH!!! Anyway, I'll try to be good and keep my complaints to myself. My buddy Gary has it worse than I do. In addition to the heat and humidity, he has to deal with biting yellow flies, mosquitoes, gnats, wasps, fire ants, and other things that leave me alone, but are not kind at all to humans. I'd definitely rather be a travel trailer than a human. You guys have it rough. Speaking of Gary, he is working diligently on a wide variety of projects. I don't think I've ever seen him work this hard. He has a goal in mind to be reached before we go camping in the fall, and he's making good progress so far. In preparation for our fall and winter camping, the Georgia State Parks annual pass was ordered last week, and arrived just a few days later. The annual pass is a great deal at full price, and since Gary turned 62 years old in February, he now gets the senior citizen discount. That's an additional $20 savings. SWEET!!! Florida doesn't offer senior discounts until you turn 65, so that's just one more reason to spend most of our camping season in Georgia, not that we needed another excuse. We LOVE their parks! During my idle time, I've been spending lots of time surfing on the net. I saw an ad recently for personalized Coke bottles, so I ordered a set. Aren't they cool? The Three Camp-A-Teers immortalized on 8oz. glass bottles. I LOVE them! Gary REALLY shouldn't leave his credit cards around for me to shop with. That's DANGEROUS!!! We once had a pair of plastic flamingos that traveled with us, but they were stolen more than a year ago. They are the only things that have ever been stolen from us in all our years of camping. We suspect that some rowdy kids took them, but couldn't prove it. Through all of our camping trips last year, we missed having our colorful mascots along. Gary was shopping on eBay recently, and thought about buying another pair. Cost wise, it didn't make sense to only buy a pair. So, he bought a box of TEN!!! We will likely only carry a pair of them along with us on trips, but now we have back-up flamingos in case any go missing. Some of them will stay here at Green Acres and decorate the yard. Besides the intense heat that we'll have to deal with in the coming months, I also have to have some tongue surgery. Needless to say, I am SUPER nervous about that. My original Atwood tongue jack quit working during our trip to St. Petersburg last month. Since then, I've been jacked up with a vintage K-Mart bottle jack. It serves the purpose, but isn't as good in any way as my old Atwood. Since my original jack was welded in at the factory when I was born, it will have to be cut out and replaced. It makes me sick just thinking about it! That's going to HURT!!! I hope to be healed up and ready to go in the fall, and I know my buddy Gary will make sure that happens. He ALWAYS takes good care of me. Well folks, that's the latest happenings. It's been quite awhile since I posted, so I thought I'd better check in. Be well, be safe, and have fun. Love, Toaster.
With indoor space growing more and more valuable around here, it was time to make some changes inside the garage. I'm sort of "grandfathered" in, so I was obviously not going to lose my spot. The non-running '71 Dodge Dart and the engineless '65 Dodge van in the back of the garage were going to be too difficult to move. So, by process of elimination, my little sister Poppy was elected to lose her spot. She's been sitting right next to me since she arrived here at the Green Acres Garage over three years ago. Getting her turned around and headed towards the front door of the garage looked like as much of an issue to me as moving the old car or van would have been. But Gary had a plan and the right tools for the job, and along with Poppy's cooperation, she was ready to head to her new home within a matter of minutes. To begin, Gary jacked up both sides of Poppy with a floor jack, and put a Harbor Freight wheel dolly under each of her tires. Then, he used his Harbor Freight transmission jack to lift Poppy's tongue. Next, I was hitched up to my buddy Dodge and moved far enough out in the yard to not be in the way. With plenty of room to do her thing, Poppy performed the perfect pirouette, spinning around almost effortlessly in the space that the two of us used to occupy. She was then hitched to Casper the cargo van, and the transmission jack and wheel dollies were removed. And just like that, Poppy was headed out the door of her former home, and heading towards her new home in the Green Acres Carport. We said our goodbyes as she passed by me out in the yard. Well actually, I said goodbye and she just listened. Poppy isn't a "talking" travel trailer like I am. That's a VERY rare thing, and I am one in a million to be gifted with the ability to actually talk. I'm sure that Gary is sometimes not too thrilled that I have that talent. Anyway, Casper delivered Poppy to the carport, and Gary used his Harbor Freight trailer dolly to maneuver her into place behind his two other vans, Max and Connie. She fits perfectly, and I think she will like the view and the fresh air. I got to spend one night under the carport recently, and I really enjoyed it. Right now, there's nothing but empty space between me and the side garage door. Shelves will soon occupy Poppy's old spot. Helen the Husqvarna is the only girl that remains inside the Green Acres Garage. And as for me...well, I'm definitely going to miss my cute little sister.
