Living Our Dream

Florida Wrap-up

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, March 23 to Monday, March 26, 2012

Staying in one spot for three or four months has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advantages are that it provides some down time when we can relax from our busy summer schedule of travel and sightseeing. It also provides time to work on projects. The disadvantage is we (Paul especially) start to grow roots. This year was especially bad for Paul. All the woodworking he had to do to install the residential refrigerator made him long for a workshop. Also, the winter was mild even for Florida, and there seemed to be more flowers blooming everywhere. That made Paul wish he had a garden. However, once we begin planning the details of the routes to our first couple of stops and thinking about new adventures, and once we start thinking of some of our old, favorite places, we begin to get excited again about hitting the road.

As we spent our last few days in Bushnell, we began preparing for our departure. On Friday, we started putting things away inside the motor home and got rid of a few items from our storage compartments we weren't using anymore. Paul checked the oil in the car and motor home, checked the air pressures in the tires and cleaned the windshield on Saturday. Margery caught up on laundry on Monday.

Another thing we did over the weekend was to make a final check of the travel latches we plan to use for the new residential refrigerator. When he finished the installation, Paul had a couple of different methods in mind to hold the doors closed while we were in transit. The method we decided on was a pair of child-proof locks on the bottom drawer to hold the freezer closed and Velcro around the handles to hold the refrigerator doors closed. We also got some spring curtain rods to use inside the refrigerator to keep the contents from shifting.

We found nice child-proof locks at Walmart that can be disabled by pressing the red button to keep the lock in the open position. Since we don't have kids to worry about, we'll be able to keep them disabled while we're parked so we won't have to remember to press the latches every time we want to open the freezer.

Child-proof latches to hold the freezer drawer closed while in transit

Velcro for the refrigerator doors

The child-proof locks got mixed reviews in evaluations that were available online. Most of the complaints were with the locks breaking or coming off (they are held on with double-sided adhesive), but most of the problems seemed to come when household members forget about the locks or when guests don't know how the locks work try to rip the refrigerator open. Since we'll only be using the locks while we're in transit, we hope we don't have that problem.

On Sunday, Pat and Mike invited us to a farewell dinner at their rig. We had a delicious dinner of Mexican lasagna and plenty of good conversation. After dinner, we all went for a walk around the campground.

Dinner with Pat and Mike

Monday was our last full day in Bushnell, and we finished up a few odds and ends in the morning, then went to The Villages for a late lunch at OakWood Grill. OakWood has delicious ribs and smoked pulled pork, beef and turkey.

OakWood Grill

Margery had a half rack of ribs with slaw and fries ($9.95), and Paul had a smoked turkey lunch platter with slaw and lima beans ($7.99).

Paul is ready to dig in.

Ribs and smoked turkey

The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender with just the right amount of sweet barbecue sauce, and the turkey was tender and moist. There are hot and mild barbecue sauces on the table, but Paul likes the sweet, smokey flavor of the turkey so much, he doesn't think it needs sauce.

In spite of eating out a good bit lately, we are both doing well with our diets. In fact, after following the Belly Fat Cure Diet for about 6 months, we have both reached our target weights. Paul has lost over 30 pounds, and Margery has lost almost 20. However, Margery is considering a new, lower target.

Now that we have reached our targets, we have begun to replace some of our baggy shorts and jeans and over-sized tops and T-shirts with clothes that fit better. We can't afford to replace everything all at once, so we're doing it a little at a time.

Margery and Paul with new wardrobe

On Monday evening, we took a walk past Pat and Mike's 5th wheel to say our final good-byes. We had a good time getting to know them better and having our friendship grow. We will stay in touch and maybe cross paths with them again during the summer before we all return to Florida in December.

On Tuesday morning we pulled out of Blueberry Hill heading for points north. We'll have an update in our next post.

Freeway's Surgery

Bushnell, FL - Events of Tuesday, March 20, 2010

We had to get up fairly early on Tuesday to drive to Largo near Tampa for the surgery to correct Freeway's cherry eye. We decided to have both eyes done even though the gland had only popped out on one eye because the ophthalmologist said the gland on the other eye was also showing signs of swelling. We dropped Freeway off around 9:00 AM and picked him up later around 1:30 PM.

We're happy to report the surgery went well, and Freeway had no problems. He was a little groggy when we picked him up, but he pretty much bounced back to his old self by early evening. He was was trying to paw at his eyes when we picked him up, so they sent him home with an Elizabethan collar, which Lora calls the "cone of shame."

Freeway looking unhappy with his Elizabethan collar

It didn't take Freeway long to figure out how to get the collar off. We put it back on a couple of times, but when we saw he was no longer trying to rub his eyes, we were able to leave the collar off, much to Freeway's relief.

There is still a little swelling and redness in the corners of Freeway's eyes, but the cherry eye is gone. There is a slight chance it could come back in a few weeks after the sutures dissolve, but we're trusting it won't.

We had a few hours to kill after we dropped Freeway off. We had researched things to do in the area and came up with the Florida Botanical Gardens right there in Largo. The Florida Botanical Gardens are operated by the Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation. The gardens are located in a Pinellas County park. Admission is free.

Adjacent to the botanical garden is Heritage Village, which is a collection of over 20 historic buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s that have been relocated to the 21-acre site. Admission to Heritage Village is also free. Heritage Village was closed when we were there, which was just as well because we would have probably felt compelled to see both the village and the gardens, and we didn't need the stress of rushing to try to do two things in a somewhat limited amount of time. A leisurely stroll through the gardens turned out to be a perfect stress reliever.

The gardens straddle McKay Creek. The visitor center, the main parking lot and the cooperative extension office are on the western side of the creek. Behind the visitor center is an herb garden, a patio garden and a tropical fruit garden.

Herb garden

Patio garden

Banana plants in the tropical fruit garden

Bananas grow on long stems, usually only one stem per plant. The ones on the plants above are small bananas that are growing more compactly around the stem than we have seen before.

What is commonly called the flower of the plant is actually an inflorescence, which is a group of flowers. The flowers in the photo below are yellow. What look like red flower petals are actually bracts, which are specialized leaves whose function it is to attract insects to the flowers. The red bracts curl up one or two at a time as the yellow flowers bloom.

Banana inflorescence is a group of flowers.

Papayas in the tropical fruit garden

There are two bridges over McKay Creek to the eastern side of the garden. We took the northern bridge over the creek. Along the way, we took a side path through a wooded area.

Along the woodland path

Palms are Paul's favorite tree, and he enjoyed seeing the different varieties planted in the Palm Garden on the eastern side of the creek. One of the most interesting was a fishtail palm from India. It gets its name from the fact the fronds are split and look like a fish's tail.

Paul with a Fishtail Palm

There are also several courtyards, a wedding garden, a bromiliad garden and several walking paths on the eastern side of McKay Creek. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much of the wedding garden because they were preparing for what looked to be some sort of TV broadcast, but we did enjoy the rest of what we could see.

Margery on a butterfly bench in one of the courtyards

Water feature in the bromiliad garden

There were signs like the one below throughout the garden along the banks of all the ponds and along McKay Creek. We didn't see any 'gators, so we're not sure if there really are any or they just wanted to keep people out of the water; but since just about any body of water in Florida (including swimming pools) can attract alligators, we weren't taking any chances and stuck to the paths.

Alligator warning

Large pond on the eastern side of McKay Creek

Anhinga drying its wings along the banks of the large pond

Great Egret stalking lunch among the lily pads in the pond

Some of the tropical flowers at the Florida Botanical Gardens

We had a very enjoyable, relaxing time at the garden. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. When we drove along Indian Rocks Beach a couple of weeks ago when we first took Freeway to the canine ophthalmologist, we drove past Keegan's Seafood Grille, which was featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We checked them out online, and even though their prices were a little high, the food looked good and they were close by. The restaurant was busy when we arrived about 12:15, but fortunately, there were still a few tables left.

Keegan's Seafood Grille

Keegan's Seafood Grille is well known for their blackened grouper sandwich as well as a fairly creative menu of other fresh seafood. They also have a long list of appetizers, several types of burgers and a complete dinner menu. Sandwiches run from $8 to $12 and include one side (choice of fries, slaw or pasta salad). Dinners run from $16 to $20.

Paul had the "famous" blackened grouper sandwich with slaw, and Margery had crab salad in a pita pocket with fries. The food was good, but we were a little disappointed in the small serving sizes given the relatively high prices. However, we do have to remember that both grouper and crab are expensive ingredients and that Keegan's is located right along the beach, both of which are major contributing factors to the high prices.

Lunch at Keegan's 

Just as we were finishing lunch, we got a phone message that Freeway would be ready to pick up in about half an hour - perfect timing to finish our lunch and make our way to the vet. As we said, he was a little groggy, but he was still happy to see us.

Our time in Florida is almost over. We have a few more things to do before we leave, then we plan to head north to Calloway Gardens in Georgia. Stay tuned.

Graduation and Barbecue

Bushnell, FL - Events of Saturday, March 17, 2012

In our last post, we promised an update on Freeway's surgery for his cherry eye, which is scheduled for Tuesday. We also said we would let you know if anything else popped up in the meantime. It turns out Saturday was Freeway's graduation from puppy class.

The pups played for a while at the beginning of the session, then Terry, the instructor, handed out evaluation forms for the class, and she answered any of our final questions about training. The puppies then donned their graduation caps.

Terry congratulating Freeway

Freeway and proud mom 

Proud papa displays freeway's diploma

The graduating class

Freeway has made a lot of progress in his training. He has mastered sit, stay, down, and come very well for his tender age of less than 5 months. Our viewpoint may be slightly biased, but we think Freeway was the star pupil of the class. Terry frequently used Freeway to help her demonstrate the lesson to the class. He does pretty well with drop it and leave it unless it is something he really wants. We really need to keep working with him, particularly on those last two items, so it all becomes second nature to him. Those last two commands could save his life if he is going after something dangerous.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided to drive a few miles south of Bushnell to Brooksville for a late lunch with Pat and Mike at the Deep South BBQ. We drove past the place dozens of times over the years because it was on the way to the chiropractor we sometimes go to when we have an ache or pain that won't go away on its own. We were always curious about their food, but we never stopped before. 

Deep South Barbecue

The Deep South Barbecue got lots of good online reviews, so we decided it was time to go, especially since we are almost at the end of our stay in Florida. The place has a lot of character. The business was started by a former Marine who is a Vietnam veteran, and we thank him for his service. The restaurant is decorated with politically incorrect signs that we thought were a hoot, and we thank him for those, too. Below are just a few examples.

Sign over the rest room door

A few examples of the dozens of bumper stickers

that customers have brought from all over the country

Redneck wind chimes - beer cans and shotgun shells

The restaurant is now run by the son with help from his sister. They serve a variety of delicious barbecued meats like pulled pork, beef brisket, ribs, chicken and smoked sausage. Most of the meats are available as sandwiches ($4.95), sandwich combos ($7.95 - includes two sides) and as dinner platters ($9.95 - includes two sides and a roll).

Our group enjoying our meal

All of us loved the meals we chose as well as the sides. Pat had a beef brisket platter, Mike had ribs, while Margery and Paul ordered sandwich combos and shared a pulled pork sandwich and a beef brisket sandwich. Margery had onion rings for a side, and Paul had cole slaw and fried green tomatoes. The ribs, beef brisket and pulled pork were all tender and juicy. They were served with just enough barbecue sauce, although there is more sauce available on the tables if you want it. The food was great, and the service was prompt and friendly. We'll definitely be back.

Outside in the parking lot, we saw a red-bellied woodpecker hunting for insects in an old live oak tree while we chatted a little longer before driving back to Bushnell.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

We'll be heading to the canine ophthalmologist in Largo, FL on Tuesday. We'll report on how Freeway's surgery went at the end of the week.

More Freeway News

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, March 8 to Monday, March 12, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, Freeway developed a condition known as "cherry eye." Some reptiles, fish and birds have a third, semi-transparent eyelid that is used to protect the eye while maintaining visibility. Dogs only have the vestige of a third eyelid, but it contains a gland that can become inflamed and pop out into the corner of the eye. The inflamed gland looks somewhat like a cherry, thus the name. The condition usually isn't serious, although it can sometimes be uncomfortable for the dog, and it can block the dog's vision if it becomes large enough. It can also lead to dry eye later on.

Cherry eye is a congenital defect that occurs most often in breeds that have saggy eyelids such as such as Bull Dogs, Cockers, Beagles and Bassets. It also occurs in dogs with short muzzles and/or rounded, protruding eyes like Pekinese and Chihuahuas. We didn't see either of Freeway's parents' breeds listed as commonly having cherry eye, but both the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Bichon Frise do have short muzzles and round, somewhat protruding eyes. As in Freeway's case, cherry eye usually shows up when the dogs are puppies.

We took Freeway to the vet, who gave us some antibiotic ointment to prevent infection and to sooth the inflammation. The vet said cherry eye sometimes goes away by itself, but often requires surgery. He recommended contacting a canine ophthalmologist if we would decide on surgery.

After several days of using the ointment, we saw no reduction in Freeway's cherry eye so we decided we should have an ophthalmologist check it out. Margery did some online research and found Tampa Bay Veterinary Clinic in Largo, FL (near Tampa) that had an ophthalmologist on their staff. When she called, we were able to get an appointment within a couple of days.

Dr. Miller, the ophthalmologist, was able to pop the gland back into place. This sometimes provides a permanent cure; but unfortunately for us, Freeway's only stayed in place a couple of days before it popped back out again over the following weekend.

Freeway's cherry eye

The cherry eye doesn't seem to bother Freeway, but we want to get it corrected so he doesn't have a problem with dry eye in the future, especially since the surgery is a relatively simple procedure that consists of suturing the gland into place. Recovery is quick, and in most cases, a followup appointment is not even necessary. By the time the sutures dissolve, the hope is the swelling of the gland will have gone down sufficiently so it will stay in place on its own.

On the Monday after Freeway's gland popped back out, we called the Tampa Bay Veterinary Clinic and were able to get his surgery scheduled for the middle of the following week. We'll post an update a day or two after the surgery to let everyone know how it went.

In the meantime, the veterinary clinic was located a short distance from Bahama Breeze in Tampa. We had a coupon for $10 off any $20 purchase, so decided we wanted to stop again even though we were just there a couple of weeks ago after visiting Ybor City with Pat and Mike. The only problem was it was too early for lunch, so we decided to drive a short distance to the west to check out some of the nearby Gulf beaches.

There is a causeway to Indian Rock Beach due west of the clinic. We were greeted by some very impressive private homes located right along the Gulf.

Private beach-front homes (above and below)

A little farther to the south, the private homes gave way to small condos. There were roads between the condos that had free parking and public access to the beach. We turned down one of the roads, parked, and walked the short boardwalk over the dune to the beach.

Paul and Margery at Indian Rocks Beach

It was a nice, warm morning, so there were a few of people sitting and walking on the beach.

Indian Rocks Beach

Condos on the beach

After our walk on the beach, we drove toward the north to Clearwater Beach. Clearwater Beach seems to be a bit more commercial with large condos, hotels, marinas and beach-front shops. It reminded us of Myrtle Beach and is definitely a vacation destination.

Beach-front condos and hotels in Clearwater Beach

By the time we drove through Clearwater Beach, it was around noon, so we headed east across another causeway over the Intracoastal Waterway then across Gulf to Bay Causeway over the northern part of Tampa Bay to Bahama Breeze.

Entrance to Bahama Breeze in Tampa

Since it was the height of lunch hour, the parking lot was fairly full, and we had to drive around twice before we found a shady spot for Freeway. We thought about eating outside, but all the shady tables on the deck were taken, and it was pretty breezy anyway. Fortunately, there were still plenty of tables available inside.

After we had a delicious appetizer of Firecracker Shrimp, Margery had her favorite - almond encrusted talapia. Paul had fish tacos. The talapia was delicious as always; but this was the first time either of us had the fish tacos at Bahama Breeze, and Paul was a little disappointed. The piece of fish on each taco was pretty small, and the tacos were served with plain lettuce, a small amount of mashed avocado and pico de gallo. Fish tacos that we have had at other restaurants and the fish tacos Margery makes are topped with sweet-sour cabbage. The sweet-sour flavor provides an interesting contrast to the fried fish, and the cabbage provides a nice crunch to the soft taco shell. Unfortunately, the pico de gallo lacked the zing that the sweet-sour cabbage provides, and the lettuce didn't provide any crunch.

Paul had fish tacos.

It seems like we can't get out of Bahama Breeze without having a Chocolate Island for dessert. A Chocolate Island is a tower of rich chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream sitting on a fudge brownie base. The island is floating in a swirling ocean of chocolate sauce and vanilla anglaise. Candied, roasted almonds are sprinkled over everything.

Chocolate Island Dessert

Later that evening back at Blueberry Hill, we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we settled in for an evening of TV.

Blueberry Hill sunset

We don't have anything newsworthy scheduled for the near future except for Freeway's surgery. As we said, we'll have an update on that next week, and we'll let you know if anything else pops up.

Return to the Market of Marion

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, Feb. 24 to Thursday, March 1, 2012

Shortly after we arrived in Bushnell last December, we went to the Market of Marion, which is a flea market located a little to the north of The Villages. Paul needed a new pair of reading glasses, and we remembered from the previous year there was a vendor there who had a nice selection of good quality glasses at reasonable prices. Fortunately, that vendor was still there this year, and Paul was able to get his new reading glasses plus an additional pair as a backup.

When Paul was working on the installation of the residential refrigerator, instead of using his eyeglass carrying case, he put his reading glasses into his pocket. He forgot they were in there and stuck a tool into his pocket scratching his glasses. Fortunately, he had the second pair he could fall back on; but since he had to use his backup pair much sooner than he thought, he wanted to get another pair before we left Florida.

Since the flea market is open on Fridays (they are open Fridays during the winter in addition to being open Saturdays and Sundays year round) and since the market is a short distance north of where Freeway's vet is located, we made the appointment for Freeway's rabies shot for 9:00 AM on a Friday so we could go to the Market of Marion afterward.

We were hoping to take Freeway into the market with us using his carrier, but there were signs that said "no dogs." Even though the market was fairly busy, we had no trouble finding a nice shady parking place to keep the car cool for Freeway for the short time we planned to be in the market.

Main entrance to the Market of Marion

We headed for the eyeglass vendor where Paul found two more pairs of reading glasses. The same vendor has a big selection of sunglasses, and we had a good time trying some of the novelty shades.

Margery tries on flamingo sunglasses

Paul went for the parrots - it's 5 o'clock somewhere

Most of the area flea markets have plenty of nice produce for sale, and the Market of Marion is no exception.

Just a small portion of the produce aisle at Market of Marion

We picked up a red pepper, several nice beefsteak tomatoes, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, a pint of Plant City strawberries, a couple of lemons and a couple of limes before heading back to the motor home.

On Saturday, we had Freeway's puppy class. The previous week's class was postponed because Terry, the instructor, was sick. In this class, we worked on leave it, drop it and down. "Leave it" is used when your dog is eyeing something or going after something you don't want him to have; "drop it" is for when he has something in his mouth you want him to let go of; and "down" means to lie down.

Terry teaches Freeway "down"

Terry has some very good training techniques. With a small class, she can easily run through the commands with each dog in turn to see the individual response, then give the owners specific tips for success based on their dog's reaction. Freeway seems to want to please and he responds well to praise even more than he responds to treats.

Speaking of Freeway, he gave us quite a scare on Monday evening. Margery went to the bedroom to fold clothes from the dryer, and we got both distracted for several minutes back there trying to get the TV tuned to the Daytona 500, which had been postponed for about 36 hours from Sunday because of rain. Partway through the process of fiddling with the TV, we decided Freeway was awfully quiet and that someone should check on him to make sure he hadn't gotten into any trouble. When we went to look for him, he was nowhere to be found. We came to the conclusion the screen door hadn't been properly latched the last time someone came in, and that Freeway had gotten out while we were both distracted with the TV in the bedroom.

We grabbed flashlights and ran outside squeaking his toys to try to attract his attention. We used our flashlights to look under the motor home and under neighboring rigs. Our neighbors, Gary and Pam, joined the search.

To make a long story short, after about half an hour, Margery found Freeway in the bathroom where she had stopped on her way to fold clothes. Freeway is so small and so fast he can frequently scoot through a door without being seen. When Margery opened the door to exit the bathroom, Freeway darted in without her seeing him, and she closed the door behind her trapping Freeway inside. Needless to say, we were happy he hadn't gotten out. We have been trying to make sure the screen is latched ever since we got Freeway, but we are now making doubly sure we check it every time we go in and out. Paul even adjusted the latch a bit to make it easier to close.

Freeway has been getting a little shaggy-looking lately, so we started thinking about grooming. We used to groom our previous dog, Molly, ourselves. However, Molly was at least 5 or 6 years old when we started grooming her, and she was very used to being groomed because we had taken her to professional groomers up until that time. Therefore, we thought it might be a good idea to have freeway professionally groomed, at least for the first time.

PetSmart, where we take Freeway for his vet appointments and for puppy classes, does dog grooming so we made an inquiry when we were there recently. Regular grooming at PetSmart starts at $40, but they have a special price of $15.99 for puppy cuts for dogs under 5 months of age. That sounded like a good deal to us, so we made an appointment for Freeway.

We dropped Freeway off, and then ran a few errands. Although they say to figure on three hours for grooming, we got a call in about two hours saying Freeway was done. Freeway's groomer, Alice, said he was a very good boy.

Alice brings Freeway out for his big reveal

We were thrilled with the results. We have seen puppy cuts where the body was clipped too short making the puppy's head look way too big for its body. But Alice did a great job. Freeway still looks like Freeway - just neater.

Freeway before

 

Freeway after

 

Alice said Freeway had some tangles in his fur, but she was able to brush them out with a little extra effort. We had been brushing Freeway fairly regularly, but he doesn't like it so we slacked off. We need to be a little more diligent because he should be brushed fairly often since he has long hair.

We were originally scheduled to leave Bushnell on March 6. With the refrigerator project taking up so much time, we hardly feel like we have been in Florida at all except for the fact it has been nice and warm most of the time. Therefore, we extended our stay here at Blueberry Hill until late March. We plan to relax a bit, do a little more sightseeing, eat out a few more times and take some time to work on our summer travel plans.

Even before gasoline prices started to skyrocket, we were thinking we would slow down a bit this summer meaning we would travel a little less and stay a little longer at many of our stops. That plan is looking better and better every day as gasoline prices approach $4 a gallon ($5 in California) and threaten to go even higher.

After leaving Florida, we plan to go to Callaway Gardens in Georgia where we are hoping to catch the azaleas at their peak. After that, we'll head to the Escapees Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL for several weeks. Then after stopping in New Orleans, we'll begin to drift northward along the Mississippi. We then plan to meander back toward the east ending up in Pittsburgh in the early fall for a family visit and doctor appointments. Even though we'll be moving a little slower, we have planned what we hope will be some interesting stops.