Gulf Shores, AL

This morning we drove over to Jody and Bruce's home. Bruce wasn't there as he was applying for a job and then going to the airport to get a flight to Cleveland as his 93 year old grandfather is seriously ill in the hospital. Jody had a "to do" list I so did the inspection and made a parts list. I'll get parts tomorrow on the way back to her place. During the to do list inspection we discovered that Jody and Bruce have a pecan tree. There were many many of them on the ground so I cracked some and we ate them. Jody took the pics of us inspecting the Bahnmiller pecan crop.We went downtown (2 or 3 minute ride) and went for a walk, darn, I forgot the camera. We stopped at the urban farmers market and bought some cukes for vinegar, cukes and onions for Thanksgiving meal. We also got some fruit I'm not familiar with....primonsen (looks like tomato's but you peel it like an apple) and satuma (looks just like small oranges). They are both good. We walked 30 or 40 miles I think. We went to a park on the bay or river and across the river was a shipyard were they were building a new ship for the Navy, I know because there was a picture in this weeks paper. It was being done inside a very large metal building, of course it wasn't an aircraft carrier. We also saw a VERY large crane that we being assembled to lift a structure to the top of the Regency hotel. The cranes boom was about 8 stories tall, hinged, and then the other 8 stories came back to the ground. It was like a giant inverted "V". This was also pictured in the paper. Judy and Jody got some fresh roasted peanuts and candy coated ones as a snack. We walked by, but didn't stop, at the "Wing Ding", a chicken wing cooking contest just like our chili cookoffs. After crawling the last couple blocks back to the car we went home. I watched some of the Michigan Ohio game while the ladies went.....shopping. When they returned we had steak, salad, rolls and cake for supper. Randy and Kristi.....we are cake testing! We got back to our place a 7pm.

Gulf Shores, AL

Judy went to Curves and grocery shopping this morning. I tinkered around the trailer. Tom and I messed with our computers some and this evening Tom and Ann went with us for pizza at a local off the beaten path restaurant. See Jean, lots of uneventful days.....but very relaxing as you can read and talk with neighbors outside in the sun, only about 65 today, 40 tonight.

Gulf Shores, AL

OK, what did we do today? I went with a new friend/neighbor (Tom) to the Escapee park in Summerdale for a 9am computer get together. There were 25 folks there and I had the opportunity to ask about not being able to connect to Mapquest, MSN, or Hotmail using my Sprint air card. It works great at other sites. I use Gulf Breeze's WiFi to get to Hotmail. Well, there's no answer but a gut feel it's Sprint's cell access. I'll download Firefox tonight as they suggested to see if that will work. After that we stopped at a pecan farm and I bought 4 pounds of cracked nuts for $8 as Judy wanted some. I learned that they shake the trees to drop the nuts, have a nut picker upper behind a tractor to collect them and run some through a shell cracker. They gather the nuts starting in September and are finished in January. It costs $1.75/pound, $2/pound cracked, or $7 shelled. After that we went to the Stewed Tomato for the lunch buffet, it was very good. While I was out Judy lead a water aerobics class here at Gulf Breeze, started the laundry and got a personal pan pizza for lunch. When I got back about 1pm I helped finish the laundry. We visited with Tom and Ann this afternoon and now the day is gone. 4:55 and the sun went down 5 minutes ago. Night night ya'll.

Wednesday November 14, 2007 Gulf Shores, AL

An easy day. I went with Judy to Curves this morning and read. We rode through the state park out of curiosity and checked it out. 500 sites, close or by the water, rustic looking but full hook-ups.
This afternoon we removed the old nonfunctional lights from the penguin Christmas tree so we can put some new ones on it. I borrowed a rake from a maintenance man and got to rake the pine needles and cones up around the site, kind of like owning a home. We even did some trailer cleaning.
Hey Devyn.....we mailed you a brown envelope today!
Jean, another unexciting day! Didn't do anything worth taking a picture for the blog.

Teusday November 13, 2007 Gulf Shores, AL

We were up early this morning to pack up the trailer, hitch it up and go to the local Ford dealer for an 8am appointment. The truck problem only happens when pulling. Yesterday they said they had the tech and parts for today, well, they had the tech. We'll do it again when the parts are in. We were back at our site and set up by 9:30. Judy was busy this afternoon getting a hair cut and some minor shopping while I got to read the papers and play on the Internet. This evening we played euchre at the activity center. Judy had 58 and I had 75 which won me $3.....a $1 profit for the evening!

Monday November 12, 2007 Gulf Shores, AL

Judy exercised at the RV park this morning for a change and enjoyed it. We went to the local Gulf area chapter of the Escapees lunch at 10:30 at the Original Oyster House restaurant. 10:30 for lunch? We were the last ones there out of 96! These old farts take eating seriously, ya gotta be there early! We stopped and picked up some minor parts so I could mount the cell amplifier outside on the slide. It's done so I can now organize the inside cables. We stopped at the Ford dealer for an appointment and will take the truck and trailer into the dealership 8am tomorrow morning as the truck has a vibration when pulling the trailer from a stop. OK....gotta go, it's time for Bingo!

Sunday November 12, 2007 Gulf Shores, AL

Today Judy and I drove to Mobile and picked up Jody and Bruce. It's a little over an hour from Gulf Shores. We then drove to Biloxi, MS to the Grand Casino on the beach. Margaret, Kim and Tom were there for a gambling fix. The guys watched some football and a race in the lobby bar while the ladies were taking in some sun by the pool. They said that they were contributors to the casinos financial well being but were quite optimistic that last night they were going to strike it rich. The pictures are of Jody and Bruce's home and their street.