Starting to come together.

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Well all the rain that passed through the province of Ontario yesterday made sure the Tecumseh area got more than its share. We got the highest reading of rainfall for the whole province. The daytime total was over 3 inches. It was so bad the town put out a broadcast asking people to avoid any unnecessary flushing of their toilets. They must have already been in deep enough, and they didn't want anymore.

Made the call to the computer shop to find out Kathy's computer was ready to be picked up. Out the door we go only to find the car covered by an inch of snow. Good thing that didn't fall yesterday or it would have buried us.

On our way back from picking up the computer we noted the wind had increased, so we stopped for a few groceries and headed home. Because of the wind I dropped Kathy near the building entrance and she grabbed the groceries to take in. I park the car get the computer to bring in and only make a few steps when I ran into Grant Emslie whom I used to work with. We started talking about this and that when I realize the computer is getting heavy and I was getting cold. No wonder, we had been talking in the middle of the parking lot for a half hour and I wasn't dressed warm enough.

After I rewired the computer and we had lunch, I received a call that the parts for the truck had arrived. Al at the repair shop said if I could be there in an hour they could finish it off today. Well two and a half hours later the job was done and the truck steers like a dream. Besides who wants to set their alarm clocks an hour and a half earlier then they normally would get up in the morning just to take the truck in?

After supper we went over to Kevin and Melissa's and visited. Kevin and I were conspiring about how to improve the Christmas light display and keep the cost down but the girls were telling us to knock it off. Well at least for now because we still have more Christmas lights to look at. Enjoy!

So things are finally starting to come together around here.

It's about time.

Krackers

You might be a redneck if you work on your car when there's nothing wrong with it.

Thats a lot of rain.

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Have any of you ever watched the TV program Angry Planet ? Well the way the weather has been lately you don't have to watch it on television. When I woke up at 7:30 you couldn't see outside because of the intensity of the rain. Every time I looked outside throughout the day it looked like a monsoon. I just stepped away from the keyboard to look outside and it's raining as bad as this morning.

All year wherever we went there was no shortfall of rain. We went away in May, it rained. We took the grandsons away for a month during the summer it rained. We went away in September, you guessed it, it rained. Last week most of the farmers fields were underwater from the rain. Today if you stood near an exit when someone came in the door you got soaked.

We were wondering if there was a Black Cloud following us like Nick Russell  of the Gypsy Journal. Kathy thought we may need to use our inflatable kayak today, but I assured her that with us living on the second floor we shouldn't need it for awhile. When we were away the kids said it never stopped raining here. Lots of the streets locally have flooded because the sewers can't handle it all.

When will it all end? I know the forecast is calling for snow latter this week. Don't you love it!

Well let's look at something other than the rain to brighten us up.

I'm sure that things are bound to brighten up soon.

It's about time.

 Krackers

A sandwick walks into a bar and the bartender says

"Sorry we don't serve food".

A learning Day

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

The truck had an early appointment for a front end alignment. Unfortunately I had to drive it there. When you have learned how to sleep-in until 7:30 a.m. getting up at 6 messes you up for the rest of the day.To top it off I had a little fright when I looked out the rear view mirror and saw a cloud of blue smoke coming from the exhaust pipe.

The alignment didn't go too well. They needed to adjust the camber on the front left wheel and  didn't have a replacement part.  I have to wait for a call that the part is in and then set up another appointment. More lost sleep.

On the way home I stopped at the car dealership to find out what's happening to the truck. My friend Don White who happens to be the chief mechanic for the trucks came with me for a test drive.

Our truck is equipped with a regen filter cleaner (catilitic cleaner fo diesels) built into the exhaust system. The problem is since we are not travelling much at this time, we are still using it for city driving. Diesel engines burn cleaner at highway speeds. With city driving the unburnt diesel builds in the regen filter. Then the regen filter gets extremely hot to burn off the unburnt diesel particulates. With all the city driving we have been doing there is more build up & that takes higher heat to ignite. When this happens there appears a big blue cloud of smoke out the exhaust pipe.

A good way to fix the problem is to get on the road and travel. It is the truth but I wonder if Kathy will buy into that right now.

We went on an information seeking mission back to the mall about our new Android phones. This new technology is hard to keep up with at our ages. We need all the help we can get.

We met up with our travel companions Sandy and Gerry Bronstein for dinner at Boston Pizza. Everybody had tales of what has been happening since the last time we were together.

After dinner they came back to our apartment and the conversation continued freely. Finally things started to get more serious as we set a date for our springtime getaway. Once that was set everyone started getting anxious for our next roadtrip.

As I said last night I'll post a few Christmas Pictures everyday until Christmas.

Enjoy the views and fantisize that we are just kids again.

It's about time.

Krackers

You might be a redneck if you wake up when your dog stops barking.

Busy Day

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

It is amazing how on a slow relaxing day we're always busy. After catching up on some of the blogs that are posted in different time zones, we started our apartment cleaning. This was the big one, catching all those unseen dust-bunnies that sneak in uninvited to hibernate behind your backs. It was also the time to get all the smugges off the mirrors and glass tops. Once the vaccuuming and other chores were done it was lunch.

The whole procedure of cleaning this apartment had taken all of an hour and a half. When we lived in our house it would have taken us at least two days to do the inside, then it was time to start outside.

During the nice weather we'd rather be on the road, instead of being tied to a house. We don't even have to hire somebody to cut the grass or shovel the snow. This apartment living is really going to be hard getting used to. Yeah Right!

Donna K from Travels in Therapy asked in a comment yesterday if we had gotten a good deal on our new toys. Our intention had not been to make any purchases yesterday. We were inquiring and Ryan the salesman answered them straightout. He also told us that the Source was giving Special Deals to keep shoppers in Canada, for Black Friday weekend.

We walked out having spent about $475.00. The purchase includes a 7" Acer Droid touchpad, 2 Samsung Droid smart phones, a 32" Samsung LCD television, and satellite system to be installed after the new year (By our choice). It is hard to believe that by having one provider instead of three, we will be saving 5 times plus what this purchase cost us in the first year alone.

I still trying to fine tune our blog, adding more travel locations to our map, that will take some time. I'm still having a few issues, but hopefully we'll work through them soon.

This week when we helped our son with his Christmas decorations, we found out that the town of Amherstburg decorates their park and river front for the holidays. So while we were taking pictures of our son's home we also took pictures of the parks in Amherstburg. What we will do is post a few of these every night until Christmas. It's not so much to send everyone off to the stores to buy decorations, but a way to put people into the spirit of the season. Enjoy!

It's about time.

Krackers

A teenage girl had been talking on the phone for about an hour when she hung up.

"Wow!" her father said, "that was short. You usually talk for two hours. What Happened?"

"Wrong number", replied the girl.



Making a difference

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

You often hear advertisements about being a blood donor. "It's in you to give" or "One donation can save up to four lives" or "The life you could be saving might be your own". These may sound like just good marketing catch phrases but they are all very true.

For many years I had always wanted to give of myself in that sense but with my usage of anti-hystamines for a congestion problem I was not allowed to donate. I had the problem surgically corrected. Now I was certain I could become a regular blood donor; but another more devasting problem arose. My wife was diagnose with Non Hogkins Limphoma (Cancer, The Big C). (I am speaking about my late wife not my present wife.)

She was able to win the first 2 battles that she fought with the disease. I remember sitting holding her hand as she went through chemo therapy assuring her everything would workout. Then her blood count would start to bottom out and the Doctors would be giving her blood transfusions that would help. Her battle lasted just under 5 years before she succumbed in 1997.

In the beginning of 1998 I finally fullfilled my promise to myself and became a regular blood donor. I figured it would help not just people who were ill or injured, but maybe it might just have saved my life. This morning after all these years with a few setbacks (colds, flu) I reach a different plateau in my donations.

No I'm not stopping here. I plan on donating as long as my health will allow me to continue. I do not work for the Red Cross or other blood services; but if anyone whose health allows them, please help by giving the "Gift of Life".

After lunch Kathy and I figured we would just pass some time and enjoy the nice weather predicted for today. We were avoiding the big crowds by going to the smaller stores and did find a few more organizers in hopes of finally completing the apartment.

The wind was starting to pick up so we went to the Devonshire Mall to do laps inside and people watch. As we were tiring we stopped at the Source to see what they had as far as E-readers because Kathy was thinking about buying one. Well 2 hours later I was bringing the car to the nearest exit. Not only had Kathy's E-reader problem been resolved but so had our problems about our aging cellphones and an issue we have been having with the cable television service.

Remember the deflating of our bank account due to the truck repair that I mentioned yesterday? Well this wasn't as bad but I think that our bank account is going to need CPB now (cash put back). All this helped us organize our finances as well to the tune of us saving more than 4 times todays purchase price per year. No one can say that we're not helping the economy. Now we just have to sit and read all the instruction manuals so we'll know what we are doing.

It's about time.

Krackers

You might be a redneck if you think cellulite is a mobile phone company.

Run around day.

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Just when we thought we were going to have a slow relaxing day, it didn't happen.

We enjoyed our breakfast and made plans to finish some chores that were neglected while we worked on our son's Christmas display. When Kathy turned on her computer it kept going into error mode. Tried to Escape, use the Function Keys it told us, nothing would happen. Shut it down a number of times, thinking it would right its own wrong. "NOT"! It kept locking up as soon as it was restarted. Can't go without such an important research tool around here.

Pulled all the wires off the computer to take it to the techs in the little town of Essex. Kathy always feels like I just took her machine off Life Support when she sees me do that. We get to Essex and everybody must be having problems because they have added extra shelves in the retail section of the shop, just for computers to repair. They figure it'll probably be ready late Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday we had dropped-off the truck for an oil-change, tire-rotation, brake-inspection and other warranty work. So on our return from Essex we stopped to pick it up. Wow that's an easy way to lighten the bank account.

By the time we got home it was lunch time. Then we recieved a call from our RV parts supplier, saying they had the proper AC covers for our trailer in. Off to Amherstburg to pick up our new AC covers. On the way home we stopped at the storage yard and installed them. This time they fit perfectly. No hot air balloons mounted to the top of our trailer. Now we just have to check on it from time to time. but it's ready for winter.

Once we got home I set up the Laptop for Kathy to use. We had dinner and still managed to complete our chores that we had planned on doing at the start of the day. Not a bad day with an extra 100 miles of unexpected site seeing thrown in for good measure.

It's about time.

Big change in the weather.

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

The title of this blog says it all. Yesterday we worked on Kevin's Christmas display wearing only T-shirts to light sweaters. Today there was a bitter north-west wind. I had on a warm hoody and moderate weather work jacket. I sure wish I'd had my winter parka.

Luckily with yesterdays warmer weather, we had installed all the lights in the tree, on the house, Santa's team and the candy cane fence. Today was going to be easy, just finish wiring everything and hook-up the controllers. With the bitting wind, doing the fine tuning with no gloves was very difficult.

Kathy wanted to document us at work but was too frozen to come outside. She cheated and caught a behind the scenes view, of  Kevin and I outside playing with our toys.

In the end we were finished just before our grandsons Cameron and Matthew got home from school. Kathy and I left so the boys could work on their homework.

We went browsing at the local Canadian Tire store. We then went out for dinner at our favourite restaurant in Amherstburg a place called Maria's. We were trying to kill a bit of time, so we could go back and take pictures after dark. We still had more time till dark so we stopped in at the local Wal-mart. Now we have our new 2012 Rand McNally road atlas, ready for when the wheels start rolling in the spring.

The lights at Kevin and Missy's house were no disappointment and helped us easily find their home.

Just in case you can't find they're house, they'll leave the lights on for you.

The igloo has a red flouresent spotlight that makes it look yellow.

A group of Santa's helpers.

Now Kevin can easily maintain their display and the Grandsons are eagerly awaiting the big day.

It's about time.

Helping to Decorate For the Holidays.

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

We had to stop at our RV supplier this morning with more information about our trailer's AC's. The model numbers we found for our unit helped to determine the proper covers to order. The strange thing was according to the cover manufacturer, they had sent the proper covers. The problem was when I had installed those covers, the wind was blowing them up to be twice the size of a Domed Satelite. I couldn't tighten it enough to stop the wind from blowing it off. My supplier thinks someone put the wrong product in the right box, so he made a phone call on our behalf.

From there we went to our son's home in Amherstburg to help put up more Christmas decorations. Once it got dark we spent a little time visiting. We should be able to finish tomorrow and I'll post a few pictures.

A big Thank You to all our readers that made comments and suggestions about the problems with the blog. At least from some of the comments this is something that has happened to many that post blogs. Rick Doyle from Rick and Paulette's RV Travels gave me few suggestions that I'll try, hoping that will change things around for us.

With mild temperatures and light breeze we experienced today was great for outdoor decorating, but I'm having a real problem keeping my eyes open. We'll try again tomorrow.

It's about time.

What the (@#$%^)?

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Sometimes this computor can be a helpful tool finding valuable information. Other times I'm sure the neighbours were wondering, (@#$%^&*) What is happening over there? 

As I said in a past post this act of blogging is very new to me. It can be a calming way to finish the day. Unfortunately it has also been a major source of frustration. That had a lot to do with the Edited Venting Post.

There are times when I open Our Blog to find we no longer have any followers listed. Wait 5 or 10 minutes and they're back below the Header.

I try to add things to make it more entertaining for our readers. A nice Thank You to our Readers and Followers would be nice, but when I add that in I lose something we want to keep. So I use online Tutorials to guide me along. What they say works for everyone, doesn't work for me. I set Kathy's computor on the Tutorials and work on the blog on my computor, it still doesn't work. Let's switch computors the other way, still no luck.

We follow many RV Bloggers, only to find their Blog names changing on our Side Bar.

Could it be that there is a Gremlin playing with Our Blog, or could this just be the joys of being a Blogger.

I've even tried online Forums to try to solve these  problems. Same answers as the Tutorials and finally "We'll get back to you"

It's about time.

A normal day?

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

We had one of those normal days that everyone dreads, doing chores.

Jim the building maintenance man called at 8:30 to say he was coming over to finish caulking our windows. When he arrived at 10:00 he also replaced the kitchen faucet spray nozzle. He also said he was going to return next week with new window glides. When it's all complete we won't have to wear sweaters at the dining room table.

Kathy had sorted the laundry before Jim arrived so I went downstairs and took care of that. Kathy kept doing her rendition of the Tazmanian Devil, cleaning around the apartment and precooking meals while I was gone.

After lunch we enjoyed watching our first Christmas show of the season. We don't watch any we have seen before unless they are really special.

I started writing a post around 7:00pm this evening, but there was a problem. The editor said I was venting, so the post was sent to file. Maybe someday if the urge gets too great it could be revisited.

In the mean time, we'll just keep envying all the Snowbirds that have flown the coop for this coming winter season, to head for warmer climates.

It's about time.

It's a dirty job

It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. How often have we heard those words throughout our lives. If there was a machine at work that broke down, a crisis at home, or cleaning the dirty dishes after a meal. Those very words were not always spoken, but thought about in the back of our minds.

When most of us were still in school, you'd be told to do something by a parent or a teacher and you did it. No questions asked because back then the consequences were far harsher then they are today. In some cases it was good because you also learned respect for your elders. You did what they told you believing they knew better than you.

Today that is not always the case. Most times you hear young school age children, giving lip and sass to their parents and teachers. They figure they know more about life than those of us that have experienced it. Teaching them simple skills such as Home Economics or Basic Shop, is below their capabilities.

Granted the people with the best computor skills are probably those very same school age children I referred to earlier. What they don't realize that it was some old people that created the equipment that they are mastering today. Yes they grew up learning what most of us could only fantisize about, and are only now learning in our later lives. The problem is that many of them are not learning the basic skills that will see them throughout life.

Will it take a calapse of the Internet or Satellite systems, to make them realize there is more to life than electronics. My word they would have to learn to socialize and carry on civil conversations, which many are not able to do. They might have to go outside to experience life and see nature first hand, not on a computor screen.

You may say, but that is how we are getting to know you. Correct, but we also know that if we were to meet face to face, we would sit and speak to one another in that manner. Kids today will sit in the same room and tweet without speaking or looking at the other. Where is the social interaction? They are becoming alien to what life is all about.

When we are no longer around to help this younger generation, who will? There needs to be a time when someone will have to roll up their sleeves and do that dirty job. 

It's about time.

Wonder what it's about

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Managed to get the cabinet extension installed today. Everything was going well until I connected the  printers that we haven't used since we were in the house. All of a sudden our computers were locking up and saying there were faults occuring. I finally had to unplug all the new/old hardware, and start adding them one at a time. The computer would then find the hardware programming on file and it worked normal. One connection at a time per computer, with many restarts throughout. The job that should have taken a half hour to do, ended up taking almost 2 hours. I wonder what that was all about?

Had planned on doing our usual Sunday evening visit to our daughter's, but that got cancelled. We forgot that our oldest Granddaughter Ashley was performing again in the Nutcracker this evening at the local Capital Theater. We got to see her perform last year and decided to pass this time. It can get quite expensive.

We've tried our best to attend all the performances, for all the Grandchildren in the past. It is always a pleasure to see their performances, whether school recitals, ballet, theater, just talent auditions, or sports events. It's the moments they all seem to shine doing what the all do best.

The rest of the day was spent reading old newspaper articles I was interested in.

Something else I have noted. I have never been a person to sit and write about things happening in my life before. When I was in school, I hated having to do essays or reports, didn't matter the subject. Now retired and not in a rush I feel relaxed and starting to enjoy this thing called Blogging. I wonder what this is all about?

It's about time.

Amazing Video

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

After I posted our blog last night and I made our granddaughter Kylla laugh because I had posted about her visit. Why not she's pretty special, cute and talented as well. Karen her mom showed up after just coming from the mall with the intention of taking Kylla home. Another visit was enjoyed while conversation flowed freely, before the evening ended. It's the first time either of them came to visit since helping us to move back in July. They were both impressed how it looked considering when they left the last time there were boxes piled almost to the ceiling, throughout the apartment.

It's amazing how that  for over 2 years we planned for this move to an apartment. We sold things on-line, in the newspapers, and in garage sales. We gave some things to our kids, and donated lots of stuff to local charities, and it still wasn't enough. Since the move we've been organizing and further purging has taken place.

While we were eating breakfast this morning, the weather channel showed an amazing video, made by 2 young ladies from England. If you enjoy things about nature, this is a must see. http://vimeo.com/31158841

After lunch we ran a few errands, one being to the grocery store. We have already celebrated our Canadian Thanksgiving, and it's not the Christmas holidays yet, but the place was packed. They had all kinds of sales going on, and people were stocking up. You'd have thought, there was a major storm, or famine heading our way.

We still read all the RV Blogs daily with envy. Most of you are where we would like to be. This is something we both agreed to as a regrouping time to finish organizing the apartment, and budget for our future travels.

Yes we don't have to shovel the upcoming snow but we are still having to put up with all these cold temperatures.

Oh well, our time will come soon.

It's about time.

This is so new !

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

It's hard to believe that Kathy and I are now part of the RV Blogging community. If you had said a year ago that we'd be doing this, I'd have walked away thinking you were dreaming. This is all, so new to us. Having people like Rick Doyle, from Rick & Paulette's RV Travels and many others welcoming us to Blogland. It really feels good.

We've been following the RV Blogs for a couple of years, and never thought that other RVers would be reading something we had writen. It's amazing how you can relate to what others are experiencing, and vice versa. There is something special about RVers, that even when you meet each other for the first time, it's like your talking to an old friend you've known forever.

After my blog yesterday, where I commented about having to clean the snow off the wood so we could see the lines to cut it. I recieved a comment from Al  Bossence of the Bayfield Bunch  that they must have got out of Dodge just on time. Well Al, we ended up with just a dusting, but from what I heard Bayfield was a little whiter than we were.

We went to install the new AC covers on the trailer today, and against Kathy's wishes I climb up to the roof. I figured I've worked on high windy jobs all my career, no problem. Problem, the wind was blowing fairly steady about 35 mph. I didn't have a safety harness on, and if I did, there was no place to secure it. I was practically crawling on the roof. Once I stretched the cover over the AC unit, panic struck. The cover could fit a unit one and a half times the size of our units. The wind was blowing them up like balloons on the roof of the trailer and I couldn't tighten them anymore. Needless to say that job didn't get finished.

Next we returned the covers to our RV dealer and ordered new ones. Hopefully when they come in the wind will be a bit less forceful

Next we picked up the cabinet extension we constructed yesterday at our son's. It looked great, only thing, it wasn't totally dry. So we put a cover over the back seat of the truck, and figured it would be dry by the time we got home. It was dry, but the smell from the stain was making both Kathy and I sick. Instead of bringing the shelf into the apartment and stinking it up, it's still out in the truck as I type this post.

After supper we had a pleasant surprise, our granddaughter Kylla stopped by for visit. When I was growing up computors were SiFi, Maxwell Smart was using a shoe phone, and cameras would use film that had to be sent away to be developed. Kylla stops for her visit, and her IPhone won't stop going off with text messaging.

So Grampa took a picture and posted it, without having to get it developed. All this is sooo new.

It's about time.

Still Organizing

Our Location Today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Even though we've been in our apartment since July 15th, we are still trying to make things just right. We have everything except our office the way we want it. The fact that we were away travelling also slowed down the progress in the apartment.

So in an attempt to better achieve this, I designed an add-on to put on top of our file cabinet. We spent the day at our son's home in Amherstburg, cutting out material for this project.

However there was a problem in the act of accomplishing this. In order to minimize the sawdust in the garage, I figured it would be easier to cut it using saw-horses outside.  Just as we started the cutting, the wind started to gust, and when it wasn't gusting, we were busy sweeping the snowflakes off the wood so we could see our lines. Needless to say we headed back inside as soon as the cutting was done.

Once all the pieces of the project were together, it looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. More time was spent sanding, wiping the dust off, and finally staining the whole thing before calling it a day. With the wood stove going overnight it should be dry enough to bring home tomorrow to install. Most importantly is a big thanks to my son Kevin, for the use of his garage, and personal help on this project, because without his help I'd still be working on it..

We will stop by our trailer to install the new A.C. covers on the trailer, hoping there's no snow accumulation overnight. Then it's off to pick up our cabinet extension.

With this extension in place, it will eliminate a stand-alone shelving unit, and open up very valuable floor space. When we had our home our office was 1.5 times the size of this room we have today.

 So slowly everthing is starting to fall in place.

Another thing I almost forgot to mention, Kathy has already finished wrapping all the Christmas gifts, for the Kids and Grandkids.

It's about time.

Christmas Shopping Finished

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

We had a lovely visit with our daughter and her family last night. After helping her with the outside Christmas lights they invited us to stay for supper.  We had chicken pot pie and mixed vegetables. It was a nice hot meal for a cool outside work day.

Well it was rather dreary, dark and rainy when we got up this morning.  We decided to spend the day doing some more Christmas shopping, since we don't like big crowds and snowy weather. We actually got it all done today. The sooner we get it done and wrapped the happier we are.  We only have to buy just a little something for each other, to open under our tree on Christmas morning, but that isn't anything to worry about until closer to Christmas. 

The rest of the day was just wrapping gifts, computer work mellowing out.

Have a great day

It’s about time.

Windy Day

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

We decide to go to an inside craft fair in Forest Glade.  It was very nice and they had many talented people there displaying their wares. We bought some homemade fudge it was yummy.

The time is flying by and Christmas will be here before we know it, so we came home to wrap some gifts and do a little work on organizing the place, when our daughter called asking us to help her with Christmas lights. 

So we headed over there to help get that done even in spite of the blowing wind. We were watching the wind as it pulled the rest of the leaves off the trees.The wind is cool and bites at your skin not a pleasant day for outdoor activity. We should be thankful many places have snow and very cold temperatures. With the wind today you wanted to stay inside, making it become a very laid back kinda day.

We are envious of the Bayfield Bunch heading out to Arizona this morning, but they've earned it  Hope they get there safely.

It's about time.

Rememberance Day

This is one day many people take for granted. It is because of this very day that many of us would not be here, to enjoy the way of life we have today; if it were not for many who were willing to sacrifice their lives for us. These brave people put aside all feelings of self need, and fought the onslaught of evil and tyranny, in the name of Humanity, Freedom and Liberty for all.

Many of us live in different countries around the world, but most of us know or have known someone that fought on our behalf to preserve the freedom we enjoy.  Many of those who served never made it back to the love and comfort of their families. Many that did return, not only recall the fighting that took place on the battlefield, but must relive all the horrors of war that continue to haunt them long after their return home.

For all those that have served and many that are still serving, who give us this life we so cherish, I say "Thank You"! This simply seems weak in nature, compared to what many of you have done Unselfishly for people that you didnt know, and for future generations.

So for those of you that ignore the meaning of this day, "Shame on You".

We should be celebrating the bravery of those men and women, not just today but everyday. It is the least we could do, considering what they have done for us.

"Lest We Forget" 

It's about time.

That time of year

Todays location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Its amazing how good you can feel one minute, and not the next. No its not about having an accident, nor that you have had your trailer winterized for the season and you won't be travelling for awhile. It's what everyone dreads at this time, THE FLU.

It seems no matter what you do to protect yourself, if there is a Flu virus in the air, it's going to get you. From one moment feeling fine, to the next moment not knowing which way is up, and back and forth like a big see-saw.

We (both Kathy and I) have a feeling we know how we managed to find this gem that we wish would pack-up and leave soon. We were doing what many people hate doing at this time of year, Christmas Shopping. Yes it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, thats what the song says. The gay happy faces (people growling at you for smiling at them), the shoppers (elbowing their ways through the crowds, that you, yourself are stuck in) Yes it's the Happiest Season of all.

Luckily the kids are now doing what we had to do while they were growing up, and are doing it for their own kids. So now it's Grandma's and Grandpa's time, to sit back, and spoil the Grandkids.

It's about time.

Our Story

Today's Location is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

We were both married before and lost our spouses to cancer. We met at a Bereavement Self-Help group in 1998. We both have married children and grandchildren. This dream was made possible because we met, fell in love and became husband and wife.  We are definitely soul mates. We are not opposites, (they say opposites attract) we both love most of the same kind of things in life and we both find that pretty wonderful.

 We both love travelling, and exploring the small towns and secondary highways, but our late spouses didn’t. They tolerated short trips of 3 or 4 hours or camping trips where you could stay put for a few weeks. It was always from point A to point B, whether the distance was short or long, when they travelled.

 After we married we both decided to travel as much as we could, when we had vacation time or even for a long weekend. We were both still working fulltime, back then.  We love the travelling lifestyle and intend to pursue it more now that we are both retired. 

I retired due to health issues in December 2003 and had already worked full time for 30 yrs as an office manager & bookkeeper for several businesses owned by a family.  Rick retired March 2009 after 36 yrs of full time work as a welder by trade for Ford Motor Company.

Early in our relationship while we were still working we pursued real camping in a tent sleeping on the ground just like we had both done in our younger years with our spouses and young children.  After a time we decided that it was not for us anymore, we were older now and our tolerance of cooler nights and the hard ground was wearing thin.  Setting up and breaking camp was way too much work, that got in the way of our enjoyment.

We progressed to a pop up camper with a toilet inside.   That was a real comfort not to have to get up in the middle of the night to head for the bathroom or the nearest bush. The pop up was comfortable but also a lot of work to set up and break camp.   There was also a lot of hauling and storing involved just as there was with tent camping.

We bought a travel trailer which I never thought I would like, because I have this fear of tight spaces, but I fell in love with it.  It was an open concept style and felt really spacious. We didn’t have to sleep on the ground like in a tent and it had a full bathroom not just a toilet like in the pop-up trailer. This was easier setting up and breaking camp and we both liked that idea.  Well now I was really enjoying this life style with all the comforts of having a small home with us everywhere we went, especially in bad weather.  Not as much hauling and storage, as everything that wouldn’t freeze stayed in the trailer. No more suitcases and duffle bags.

That led to us looking at more RV’s and we fell in love with a 2006 Keystone Cougar 5^th wheel -290RK and pulled it with our 2006 Ford F250.  It felt like a cottage for two, and was cozier and had more of the comforts of home.

We took a lot of wonderful trips and one that especially made a terrific difference in our lives.  In 2008 we took a trip around the southwestern USA.  We travelled 7,000 miles, took 6 full weeks, it was a fantastic trip and all went well.  It opened our eyes to the beauty of the world around us and all the wonderful things we were missing by sitting in one spot.

We decided at that point when Rick retired we would definitely pursue our dream of travel.  We needed to downsize our home to an apartment to free up our time and money for our travels. We decided at that time we should start getting ready to sell our home so we could upgrade our trailer and really be part-time RV travelers.  We say part-time because in Ontario you must stay in the province for 6 months of a year in order to keep your health insurance.   That only allows us 6 months (or 181 days) of travel time outside of our province.

When Rick retired we bought our 2009 Ford F350 Dually with the thoughts of upgrading our 2006 Cougar in the near future.

We had garage sales to downsize our belongings. We sold a lot of things on line, through newspaper ads, by word of mouth and, gave our kids some of our stuff as well. We continued with the downsizing process and it hasn’t stopped. You truly wonder how we collected so much stuff in our lifetime together.

2011 was a very busy year!

 Our home went on the market on the 7^th of May, 2011 and sold on June 7^th, 2011 exactly one month.  We had two more garage sales before we moved out.  Whatever didn’t sell was packed up and given to charity. Downsizing and such extreme changes in our lives was a very stressful process and filled with a roller coaster of feelings and a lot of anxiety, much like full timers experience, but we were intent on moving forward. 

 We looked for a two bedroom apartment and finally found one that we thought would suit our needs. The day we  moved into our new apartment on the 15^th of July was very overwhelming.  All of our belongings were piled high in there and waiting for our unpacking and placing. We thank our kids for their help with our move as we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. 

We had a month long trip to Florida coming up and were leaving on July 25^th, which would coincide with our homes closure, but we had made arrangements with our lawyer to get it done on the 22^nd of July and turn in the keys.  There was so much pressure, to get somewhat settled and everything done, before we left. We were both very determined to proceed with this trip.

Our house closed while we were away on the 16^th of August, and we returned on the 19^th of August. On the 24^th of August we picked up our brand new 2011 Keystone Avalanche 340TG 5^th wheel.  We traded our 2006 -5^th wheel in and it sold the day after we picked up our new one.

It was a very long tiring day as we transferred everything from one 5^th wheel to the other. The dealer provided us with 2 young ladies to assist with the moving, and bottled water, hotdogs for lunch and coffee the next morning.  We spent the night in the dealer’s lot, connected to hydro and water as well. It had been a very hot day, but we were able to run the air conditioner as we straightened out the things that had been transferred, and showered after.

When we got home we took the Avalanche to our son’s home and started making adjustments to it before we left for some RV Rallies.  We increased the storage area inside by creating space beneath the bed and adding additional shelves to the pantry.  It sure made a difference.

The following week we went to Hershey Pennsylvania to the RV Dreams Rally, put on by Howard and Linda Payne, with our RV friends Gerry and Sandy Bronstein, who are great travel buddies and we hope to be in their company again soon.

While in Pennsylvania we explored the area and took a quick trip to Washington DC.  We toured the capitol building and saw a glimpse of the White House and other historical places.  Because of the hectic time we had prior to this trip we did not allow ourselves enough time to see all the things we should have and have vowed to return to Washington DC another time and spend at least 5 days there.

We continued on to Celina Ohio to attend the Gypsy Rally.  We finally met Nick and Terry Russell.  They are a very nice couple.  Rick wanted to start this blog and didn’t know how to go about it so he got to meet Jim and Chris Guld when he took their classes.  They are such good people and very helpful.

We returned home, after being away for 3 weeks.  We were only home a short while when we left to have dinner and a nice visit with RV friends Al and Kelly Bossence in Bayfield.  Hope to see them again soon.

We then visited friends and relatives in London and the Welland area before coming home and took a few days to do more changes to the Avalanche that we didn’t get finished before we left for the rallies. After that we had it in for some warranty work and for winterizing. Winterizing is always a sad thing as it means that our “AVA” (our nick name for our 5^th wheel Keystone Avalanche) won’t be going anywhere soon.

All things were happening just a little too fast in 2011. We have decided to get the rest of our lives unpacked, organized, and in order before we head out again. We are hoping that 2012 will be a lot more relaxing, stress free and fun.

So for now that is what we are doing getting our lives in order so that we can travel soon.

We will keep you posted as to what will come next.

It's about time!