It's Been Over A Year, But I'm Still Here!

Hello, my friends and fans! Have you been wondering what happened to me? Did you think I had died and gone to that big campground in the sky? Well, I'm happy to say I'm still here, and still relatively healthy in my old age. I'll be AARP eligible in just 6 more months! Can you believe it? After a year and a half of being cooped up inside the garage, I've finally escaped to the back yard. I'm enjoying the fresh air, the rain on my skin, and hanging out with my little sister Poppy. Not sure how long I'll be out here, but it's the closest thing to actual camping I have done since February 2020. Except for some early morning sun, I'm totally in the shade for the remainder of the day. It's still hot out here, after all, this IS Florida, and this IS summer. At least it's slightly cooler than being inside my big steel garage. I was filthy dirty from all these months of confinement and inactivity. The rain has helped wash a little of the "crud" off of me, but I REALLY need a thorough scrubbing and a good soapy bath. I'm hoping that my buddy Gary will see how nasty I still am, and will do something about it. I'm embarrassed to have my picture taken right now, but I probably don't look too awful from wherever you're seeing me from. As you know, it's been over a year since my last blog post. You probably thought that I've been off camping somewhere, and just too busy and having too much fun to write. Far from it. I haven't been ANYWHERE!!! We had camping reservations for this past fall and winter, but Gary cancelled them all due to the COVID situation. Will this ever be over? Maybe we can do some traveling this coming fall and winter, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Gary only goes out once a month or so for supplies, and he buys enough stuff when he does go out to keep him home for long periods of time. His record amount of days staying home in a row is 56, and there was another time he stayed home for 49 days straight. He drives Casper the cargo van on the rare occasions that he does go anywhere. My camping pal Dodge, the third member of The Three Camp-A-Teers, (along with Gary and I), stays home with me, and has only gone on one trip since we came back from camping in February 2020. Where did he go to? Gary found a 2001 6x12 red Haulmark cargo trailer on Facebook Marketplace that he wanted to buy, and it was all the way over on the west coast of Florida. So, Dodge and Gary drove all the way across the State to get the trailer and bring him home. That was only a couple of weeks after I blogged for the last time in August of 2020. Everybody around here has a name, and we couldn't think of anything fitting for a red cargo trailer. Our friend Ron Roberson suggested "Caboose" for a name, and it stuck. Since train cabooses are usually red and are always behind all of the other train cars, the name fit perfectly. Thanks, Ron! Caboose is quite unusual. We haven't seen any other trailers that have four doors, one on each side and two in the back. The folks at the Haulmark factory told Gary that Caboose must have been a special order trailer, because they don't normally build them with four doors, normally just three. He is very airy and more accessible with that extra door. Gary is in the process of insulating Caboose, and also adding some shelving, an electrical hookup, and some lighting. In December of 2020, after 49 years and 11 months of being a part of Gary's family, "Mr Dart" (the 1971 Dodge Dart) went to a new home. It was hard for Gary to let Mr. Dart go, but he was deteriorating just sitting here, and we were running out of covered storage space to keep him under. Our pal Chris, the body shop craftsman who repaired Dodge so well after his accidents, is Mr. Dart's new owner. Chris has the skills and desire to make Mr. Dart as good or better than new, and Gary likely wouldn't have sold him to anybody other than Chris. Plus, Gary will get to see Mr. Dart from time to time, and I know that's important to him. In more recent news, and VERY exciting news for us, is that we are now Georgia property owners. WOO-HOO!!! We (notice how I include myself) now own a wooded 4.39 acre plot of land in the little town of Lexington, very near Athens. What Gary does with the property is still undetermined, but after a long search, I'm glad he found some land he wanted. It was a great price too. Those are all the major events that have happened around here since I last posted. Like usual, Gary has literally hundreds of projects in the works, and I'm always around for moral support, since I'm not much help with physical labor. It's an overcast and rainy day here, Poppy has on her rain hat, and I think she and I have caught up on everything that's been going on since we last spent time together. Gary has been suggesting that I get everybody caught up with our activities, and this seemed like the perfect day to do it. Mission accomplished! It's almost time for "People's Court", so I'm going to scoot. Thanks for checking in, sorry it's been so long, and I hope you all are safe, healthy, and having fun. Catch ya later! Love, Toaster.