Finally Another Update
Wauchula, FL - Events of Monday, October 30 to Thursday, November 23, 2017
We somehow just can't find the time to get out and do any sightseeing, but we're still enjoying ourselves with all our activities around the Co-op. More people have arrived since our last post, which means there are more meetings, more social activities, and more work days are taking place. We each attend several meetings a week. It's not that we're on that many committees, but all meetings are open to all members, and we like to keep abreast of what is going on.
The newsletter is due out the first of December, and Margery has been gathering information and has started to lay out the pages. She has also been working on making sign-up sheets and announcement posters for various activities.
Paul joins a group of men several mornings a week to help trim palm dead fronds from the 140 or so trees around the RV park. That's an activity that takes place every year, and it probably won't be done this year until sometime in January. He is also working on a couple of special planting and fix-up projects with the Landscape Committee.
Also, as co-chairman of the Landscape Committee, he was given a lesson in driving the Co-op's tractor. When we took a walk one evening, we stopped at the maintenance building so Paul could take the tractor out for a short spin to get a little practice driving it when no one was around. We are happy to report he remembered where all the controls were located and how to work them so he is ready to go the next time the need arises.
Paul taking the Co-op tractor for a test drive
One of the fellows at the Co-op who was working on repairing the towers for our Wi-fi system that had been damaged by Hurricane Irma. He needed a batch of concrete to reset one of the towers and was looking for volunteers to help him mix. Paul suggested it might be a good idea if the Co-op had an electric-powered cement mixer to make mixing concrete easier for all us old farts. A couple of days later, Paul found himself putting the new cement mixer together. The assembly was time consuming, but it was was way better than mixing 12 or 15 bags of Sakrete by hand. Not only that, but the cement mixer will be available for members to borrow for personal projects, and Paul is thinking about adding a little more concrete to our patio in the near future.
Paul assembling the cement mixer
As we mentioned, social activities have increased with the arrival of more Co-op members. Breakfast is served every Monday morning in the clubhouse. We like to go to that because not only is the food good, it's also very inexpensive. It's also a good time to visit with other members and get to know them better. Breakfast is always followed by announcements about the week's activities, and that helps us to stay up to date. We also attended a "welcome back" potluck at the clubhouse a couple of weeks ago, and we have gone with a group from the Co-op to "Taco Tuesday" at the Main Street Grille in Wauchula several times since our last post.
On top of all that, we always seem to have errands to run in places like Wauchula, Avon Park, and Sebring. While we are out, especially if we're near Sebring, we sometimes stop for a late lunch at Dee's Place. Dee's has great diner food and delicious, hand-pattied, half-pound burgers.
One of our errands a couple of weeks ago took us a little farther away (a drive of about an hour and a half) to Okeechobee. While we were there, we had lupper at Rio Bravo Mexican Restaurant.
Rio Bravo Mexican Restaurant
We started out with the traditional corn chips and salsa. The chips were warm and crisp, but they were a little thicker than we like. The salsa was good with plenty of cilantro.
It was before 4:00 so we could have still ordered from the lunch menu, but we were pretty hungry so we ordered dinners because the portions are somewhat larger for only about $1.50 more. Margery had a chicken chimichanga ($9.50), and Paul had a "pick two combo" with a ground beef burrito and a chicken quesadilla ($8.99). The dinners were delish!
Paul with his "pick two" combo
That brings us to Thanksgiving. There was a Thanksgiving dinner in the clubhouse, but we prefer a more quiet setting by ourselves or with one or two other couples for those kinds of big dinners. This year, we went by ourselves to a Cracker Barrel located about an hour away in Bradenton.
Cracker Barrel
As usual, it was crowded, and we waited about 50 minutes for a table. It wasn't too hot or too cold, so we sat on the porch most of the time to people watch. We had the Thanksgiving special which consists of roast turkey, ham, corn bread dressing, sweet potato casserole, cranberries, rolls, a drink, plus one additional side. Also included is a slice of pumpkin pie. Like most of the people we saw, we had our pie to go.
Margery with her Thanksgiving dinner
This year, the price of the dinner was $12.99 - up a dollar from last year, which was up a dollar from the year before. The food is always good, but this year, we thought the food was especially delicious. We also think the portions, especially the pie, were a little bigger than last year. The pie also tasted a little better than we remembered with more pumpkin flavor and more spice.
That's about all we have to report for now. We still want to do some sightseeing, but we don't know when or if we'll find time. We also have a few new restaurants we want to try, and eating out has a lot better chance of happening since Margery finds cooking an inconvenience when we're so busy. Stay tuned.
