Making Stilts, & “A Little Bit Of Heaven” and Enjoying Halloween

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Again last night we both slept soundly like a couple of rocks. With sleeping that soundly also meant another morning of getting up by 7:00. Yes we know that a lot of people do that all the time especially people that are still tied to a “work schedule”. However we are retired and don’t need to be up so early. 

Sally, Melissa and Kathy greeting Trick or Treaters.

There were Hippies and Ninjas

Once we’d finished having breakfast and doing our morning reading I set my portable workbench outside on the balcony. On Thursday I mentioned how the new owners of our building have hired contractors to change all the toilets in the building to new Low Flow models. The only problem is that the tanks on the new toilets are taller so our over the toilet storage cabinet had to be modified. There was just too much going yesterday and it was cooler and windier so today was the day. The shelving material we bought the other day had the same white finish so the idea was to make filler pieces and braces for both legs. After cutting the lengths I then had to rip some material from the depth. By the time I finished that alone the wind was starting to pick up and cooling me down. 

Richard Simmons and an overweight follower.

Someone lose their Cell Phone.

The Weedman and Pocahontas were there. 

As I brought my tools in I found Kathy making another contribution for tonight’s Halloween Party we were attending. I quickly got cleaned up to give her a hand. She was frying Won Ton Wrappers in vegetable oil and then I would sprinkle them with Icing Sugar. These are always a big hit anywhere we bring them and our friend Rick from E & R’s Travels always says that “they taste like a little bit of heaven.” 

Forty Shades of Grey

Big Baby.

By the time we finished cooking two packages it was nearing lunch so that’s what we did was have lunch before I continued on our project that I teasingly called adding Stilts to the Cabinet. It all fit together perfectly and now we have our storage cabinet back in use. When that was finished I went outside and cleaned out the backseat of the truck before bringing the Cupcake cake out with the cool temperatures there was no concern of them getting too warm. We needed to get a few groceries for tomorrow so we stopped at Metro grocery store before heading out to the party. 

Kevin and Melissa had everything decorated for the occasion and it wasn’t long before everyone started arriving. There were friends coworkers and family all enjoying the atmosphere and all the buffet of food that everyone had brought. This was the first year that Melissa had tracked what everyone was bringing and it worked out much better with no repeats of the same dish. Everyone partied responsibly so there was no needs to call any cabs to make certain everyone would make it home safely. We left around 10:30 before it got too late because it had started raining and we had the farthest to get home. 

The kids were outside playing as well as the smokers in the top picture.
This was only part of the food that was left over after everyone ate.

Here is hoping everyone had a Safe and Enjoyable Halloween. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment.

It’s about time.

Krackers

What do short-sighted ghosts wear?

Spooktacles.

Chores, Baking And More On Fulltiming.

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Again we both managed to sleep quite well last night in fact I even slept in until nearly 7:30 this morning. I went through the routine of opening the curtains in the other rooms but I knew by seeing other tenants out walking their dogs that were wearing heavy coats that it would be another day I’d prefer to stay inside. By the time Kathy got up I’d gotten the better part of my morning reading completed. Unfortunately as soon as we finished breakfast we both hit the ground running in opposite directions. 

Since we’ll be attending a Halloween party at our son and daughter-in-law’s tomorrow night Kathy had to start doing some baking as part of our food contribution. The first thing I did was to strip the linens off our bed and sort the laundry. Nobody else was down in the laundry room when I got there so it didn’t take long to get things in the wash. I returned to the apartment where I remade the bed with fresh linens. By that time Kathy was already getting the first batch of cupcakes in the oven. 

When I returned to the apartment after getting the clothes in the dryers Kathy had put the second batch of cupcakes in the oven and was making an early lunch for us. Once we’d eaten I actually had a few minutes to put together the ingredients for a double batch of butter-cream icing. Unfortunately I wouldn’t get the chance to mix it for her before I had to return to the laundry room to start folding our clothes. 

Since Kathy and I have made the decision to go Fulltime and give up our apartment we have met other tenants that are also planning on leaving due to the higher rent and new restrictions that are now being imposed by the new landlords. Today while folding our clothes Melanie said that when she and her husband Gates return from Florida in April they will be seriously thinking about leaving as well. 

When I returned to the apartment Kathy had already filled the cupcakes some with Lemon Curd and others with Mint. She’d also started assembling them as a cupcake cake but had run out of icing. This time I just made a single batch of icing before starting to clean up the kitchen. Kathy did this entire cake by herself today and it fits the theme perfectly. 

We are still getting positive feedback not only from people online but people we are talking face to face with about our going Fulltime. Considering our age alone they all say we should enjoy our lives before we start having health issues. At this time we are not rushing because we’ll be spending the winter at home but that doesn’t mean that we have any time to waste either. Our intention is to sell most of our major furniture and some other items before moving the rest into the Storage Unit. That only leaves us six months to get that all completed. The time will go pretty fast so we want to start ASAP. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

Your job training took less than fifteen minutes.

More About Our Fulltiming and Starting Thirteen.

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

After a late posting last night we didn’t make it to bed until nearly midnight which is way past our bedtime. Luckily we both went to sleep without waking in the middle of the night. However on nights that I sleep through I’m wide awake before 6:00 in the morning. Even though I try falling back to sleep after a short while it is normally my back that urges me to get out of bed. 

Now what could I do at an early hour like that? Well I started my morning reading and when I started seeing all the comments on yesterdays post “Why We’re Going Fulltime” I was a bit startled. Later when Kathy would read those comments we both agreed with them all and are Thankful for some of the tips. 

Kathy waiting for her driver.

We’ll be downsizing “STUFF”! What that means things that we no longer use or need by selling or giving them away. There will be some “Things” that are treasures we would like to hold onto for such a time that we can no longer Fulltime that we will put in storage at this time. We also have an abundance of new clothes that we recently purchased that will also be packed away in the same storage unit. There are also consumable goods that everyone tends to stock up on when having a home or apartment that will again go in storage. In a trailer there is limited storage. As we use up our consumables and clothes the first place we’ll go shopping is our storage unit.  Yes there we’ll pay rent for this storage but it is cheaper than getting rid of everything and replacing it later. After a year we figure we might even downsize the size of the storage unit. 

San Antonio Riverwalk Cruise. 

Our home phone number we presently have is connected to a “Turbo Hub” which is a wireless system. When we travel in Canada we bring it in the trailer and receive and make calls as if we are home. It also doubles as our mobile WiFi again when we are in Canada. We will definitely be bringing this system with us when we start Fulltiming.   

This afternoon I went to the Canadian Blood Services building and made my 97^th blood donation. After my last blood donation being termed as Down Twelve Gallons this would make this donation the start of Thirteen Gallons. It’s always nice to be able to help someone in need that you can’t help with monetary donations. I read a new sign today that said “Over half of all Canadians are able to donate blood but only two percent do”. That is probably true worldwide. 

Our first Selfie with the Grand Canyon in the background.

When I got back to the apartment the contractors hired by our new landlord had replaced our toilet with a new Low Flow model. Unfortunately these toilets are taller than the older models so they had to remove our standup storage unit because it hit the top of the new toilet. Kathy and I then went for a ride to Home Depot where I located a small piece of shelving material that I’ll use to fix our cabinet. We also had to go to Guardian Storage and our trailer. I needed my saw so I can cut the material. After all the rain we had yesterday our trailer was surrounded by a small lake. 

Yellowstone National Park.

It was nearly 6:00 by that time so we stopped at Wendy’s where we used a coupon to have our supper at a reduced price. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

More Pictures 

from our 2008 trip. 

Krackers

Office Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes

Ghosts, it seems, are not often spotted in modern offices. Paranormal investigators offer several theories as to why. Ghosts might not like new building's "environmental conditions" such as metal and concrete construction or fluorescent lights, says Vince Wilson, author of Ghost Tech and president of Maryland Paranormal Investigators Coalition.

Why We’re Going Fulltime.

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

After we both managed to get a decent night’s sleep we went through the normal movements of having breakfast before heading over to the computers. With the heavy rainfall and high winds we were experiencing at the time neither of us had the slightest inclination that we’d even be stepping foot outside today. Being retired makes choosing those kinds of things easier to do. 

Our 2006 truck and trailer.

Reading comments that were left on yesterday’s blog Bill Richards commented that he and his wife Pat will be not only retiring next year but going Fulltime as well. As a fellow Ontarian he is interested on what we are doing in preparation to go Fulltiming. In order to answer that more personally we will try to get together sometime in the new year. Looking at Bill’s profile we also noted that he has started his own travel blog called On Our Way. With a little help from fellow RV Fulltimers George and Suzie from Awesome Travels he’s made some good improvements on it. We are looking forward to meeting Bill, Pat and their handsome furkid Clemson not just after the new year but on future travels down the road.   

Taking a break from our Airboat ride.

The Alamo.

Kathy and I have travelled since shortly after our meeting in 1999. In 2008 we combined attending a convention with a roadtrip that we thought would be the trip of a life time. Combining all my vacation and sickdays time off together we had six weeks to see things we’d only dreamed of seeing. Kathy did all the research for the trip and knew what the final cost would be as well as where we would be each night of our trip before we left home. In that six weeks we attended the Convention in Florida, saw Kennedy Space Center, toured part of the Everglades, saw the Alamo, went to Tombstone, drove across the Hoover Dam, visited Las Vegas, saw the Grand Canyon, rushed around Yellowstone National Park, went through Cody Wyoming, walked around Devils Tower, went to the Hot Springs and then visited both Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument before dragging ourselves home. Did that make your head spin? That was a seven thousand mile trip in six weeks that gave us both a bad case of Hitchitch. 

OK Corral shootout reenactment.

Grand Canyon.

When the company announced later that year the closure of our plant after my thirty-six years in the welding trade I chose to retire so those in the trade with young families could continue to care for them. Kathy had worked in her profession for 30 yrs and was forced to retire due to health problems. 

Towing our trailer across the Hoover Dam.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

Buffalo grazing in Yellowstone.

As you already know we sold our home back in 2011 which gave us the ability to do more traveling. We rented an apartment at that time because Kathy's health was very iffy. Kathy's health has actually stabilized and in some ways improved since leaving this cold climate for warmer places during the winter months. The rising cost of renting has not remained affordable. When we are travelling we still have to pay our rent. We looked into alternate housing, other apartments even purchasing a park model in a trailer park. Nothing worked for us until we looked at Fulltiming. Others had made the suggestion of us going Fulltime years before but it wasn’t until we’d done more research and put it all down on paper in black and white that we could make our final decision. We both want to continue RVing for many more years and that is the only economical way for us to do it. 

Deer grazing by the Hot Springs.

Very hot water coming from the ground.

This pool is heated by the above hot spring.

We’ve since found a number of things that will help us in our transition and there are a few other things that we have to wait until we are Fulltiming before we can commit to them. The clock is ticking and we are planning on getting rid of more of our STUFF. Remember STUFF owns you, you don’t own it. 

Great spot to have lunch.

Devils Tower beyond our truck and trailer.

Local resident.

Crazy Horse Monument in 2008.

Mount Rushmore.

Another local resident.

The rain slowed down later this afternoon so we ran an errand to the Credit Union to do some banking. When we came out the rain had stopped and the sun had started to shine so we went next door to Taco Bell where we used a coupon and had a wonderful supper at a reduced price. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Pictures taken

on our 2008 trip.

Krackers

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

More Progress and Big Storm Heading Our Way.

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

Kathy had a restless night so she has been dragging most of the day. I slept so soundly that when I woke shortly after 6:00 I knew it was time to get up because I was wide awake. Again I managed to get all my morning computer reading completed and was ready to start making breakfast when Kathy finally woke up.

Once we’d eaten and Kathy had finished her reading she was back to making entries on our expenditure spreadsheet which helps us keep track of where and how we spend our money. This has worked out great for us at reducing useless expenses. While Kathy worked on that I drove over to Princess Auto to buy some aluminum angle iron. As I mentioned yesterday that there was no mounting frame work for these solar panels we had purchased. We received a flyer from Princess Auto in the mail the other day stating that all their in-stock aluminum was on sale at thirty-five percent off. The money I save on the three smaller pieces basically paid for the larger piece that I also purchased.

I was home before lunch where Kathy was busy making a big pot of Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. It will sit in the refrigerator overnight so that the flavors will meld together. After eating lunch I needed to get some tools from the trailer but Kathy wanted to walk over to the Metro grocery store for exercise so she told me to go to the trailer on my own.

There is one bad thing about Guardian Storage yard where we store our trailer. The road that leads to it crosses a railroad track that has many trains that cross it daily. Most of those are all long freight trains that sometimes stop and shuttle back onto a side rail thus causing some long delays. I spent twenty minutes waiting to finally get to the trailer. I got all the tools I needed in a matter of minutes and made certain everything was secure before heading back for the apartment. Remember that railroad track? I spent another ten minutes waiting for another train to clear the roadway.

At the apartment Kathy was back cooking at the stove and said she’d had a good walk. Even though she’d gotten everything on her list she still needed to go back to the Bulk Barn for more supplies. On Sunday when we had gone there some of the things we needed they didn’t have. Today they had those missing items but were missing the ones that we’d seen the other day. It is a popular place and you can’t beat the prices.

Watching the 6 o’clock News this evening the first thing they reported on was the severe storm our area will be getting starting tonight. This storm is from the remnants of hurricane Patricia which is forecasted to cause possible flooding and power outages from the storm damage. That’s something that doesn’t happen in this area so we’ll be hunkered down for the next thirty-six hours hoping things aren’t as bad as they forecasted. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

You think a PPO is a Chevy muscle car.

More Progress and Special Errand,

Our Location today is Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada.

As soon as I started staring at the ceiling last night with a whole host of things running through my head I went straight to the medicine cabinet and got an extra strength Tylenol. That move helped me to be back in bed in less than two hours which is a new record for me on sleepless nights. I still managed to sleep soundly enough for the remainder of that time that I was up and at the computer by 7:00 this morning. There is definitely something wrong when you’re up before the sun and there really is no need to be. Kathy toughed it out and stayed in bed just past 8:00. That allowed me the ability to have my morning reading finished before having breakfast. 

When Kathy finally got to her computer I had other chores around the apartment that I started checking off my list. Some of those were confirming doctor’s appointments that had been left as phone messages late Friday afternoon. I also called to verify that our refund had been issued for reservations that we had to unfortunately cancel for this coming winter. I then unwrapped some solar panels that we bought so we can start getting them mounted on the trailer. I needed to do some measuring because these didn’t come with adjustable stands so I’ll simply build some. Before lunch Kathy started cooking a nice sized chicken we bought at the grocery store yesterday in the Crockpot. 

Later this afternoon I went to pick up our grandson Tyler and his hockey equipment after he got off the school bus and drove him over to the Tecumseh Arena. He is so serious about playing hockey that he has been playing in leagues since he was five years old. The high school he goes to has hockey as part of their Physical Education Program. Today he was trying out for the school’s junior hockey team giving him even more practice and training by different coaches. There was one problem. The team only needs twenty-five players and there were over two hundred names submitted for those positions. Only the players were allowed in the arena for the tryout so now we have to wait for the coaches to choose who will be on the team. 

For supper Kathy made a Caesar Salad to go with the chicken she’d had in the Crockpot since this morning. It all tasted fantastic and the chicken came off the bones with a fork. By cooking the chicken in the Crockpot Kathy was also able to get a lot of the juice that she’ll use to make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup later this week. 

Tomorrow we’ll continue making progress towards our goal of Fulltiming for next spring. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

The World's Great Proverbs

One swallow does not make a summer.