My Life is Comlete!

Wednesday, January 28 - Port St. Lucie, FL

My life is now complete! A week ago, K attended a luncheon hosted by a local spa. During the course of this luncheon, special price deals were being offered for various "spa treatments". She signed us both up for a "pedicure"! When she returned and announced this to me, my first reaction was "What? I'm NOT going for a pedicure!". However, after speaking to several of my male friends here, I decided to go for the treatment. Today was the day for the "treatments".

Believe me, I had no idea what to expect today, other than the fact that someone was going to be "messin' with my feet". I had to wait for over an hour before I got to go in, as K had the first appointment. Finally, it was my turn. If you've never had a pedicure, you have no idea what you are missing. Today, I got the "full" treatment, which was, in a word, unbelievable!! It starts out with the pedicurist doing the toenails. From there, she moved on to smoothing out the rough, dry skin on my toes, the balls of my feet, the heels. Next comes the foot bath - a hot water bath with warm rocks in the bottom of the container, and the water is scented with oils. After about 10 minutes of soaking, we are ready to get back to sanding and polishing the nails, heels, toes and balls of the feet. Then, a short soak to rinse, and BINGO! You're done with the feet part. Now, she covers the eyes and begins to massage the neck area, the arms and hands and fingers, with scented massage oils. From there, she moves onto the legs and feet, same treatment, only this time, she introduces HOT stones with the massage, then rough-textured gloves to exfoliate, I assume. Finally, regrettably, I'm finished!

Wow! This was so amazing that we booked another session next month, and I can't wait for the date. My feet never felt so good! In fact, I was reluctant to even WALK on them for fear of losing the feeling. So, if you've never gone for a pedicure, you really HAVE to try it! I guarantee you will not be disappointed. In fact, I actually believe you will thank me for the recommendation(and your feet will thank you!). Try it!

Until next time, be happy!

Still In Tampa

Sunday, January 25th - at Lazy Days RV Super Center, Seffner (Tampa), FL

We are still here in Tampa, at Lazy Days RV, hoping the work on our coach will be completed tomorrow by noon so we can get back to Port St. Lucie. There's not much to do here, except to look an motor homes on the lot. Yesterday afternoon, I test-drove a 42' motor home just to find out how it handles. I have to say that the ride is much smoother with the longer wheel-base and the tag axle in the rear. But, don't get excited. I/we have no plans to purchase another motor home at this time. We just wanted to check it out for the time when we will be shopping for a new coach.

As I said above, there's not much to do here. Today K asked me what I was doing, and I said "Nothing."

She said "You did that yesterday!"

I said, "I know. I wasn't finished."

Ah, retirement!!

Anyway, today we took a trip out to Apollo Beach to the Big Bend Power Station, where there is a Manatee Preserve. We got to see hundreds of Manatees in the water. The reason the manatees come here is that the water here is warm as a result of the runoff from the power station. They tend to gather here during January and February, when the water temperatures elsewhere get lower. The longer we are down here, the more we discover.

The "cold snap" is over down here, thankfully. Today the temperature reached the high 70s, with no humidity and a bright blue sky which was as clear as a bell. Perfect weather for seeing some of the local sights. One of the better things we were "privileged" to enjoy while staying here at Lazy Days was a place known as the "Crown Club". This is an exclusive club on the Lazy Days property for owners of "high line" coaches. We bumped into friends from PSL, who are also here having work done on their coach. They are members of the "Crown Club", and managed to get us passes to join them on Saturday for breakfast, which consisted of a full buffet of delicious foods and fruits. Later on in the afternoon, we returned to cocktails and hors d'ouvres, which were so plentiful that they became our "dinner". And here's the best part - it's all F-R-E-E!!! As they say, "RHIP". I guess if you can afford to spend the kind of money they spend on their coaches, they should get some kind of special treatment when they bring them in for service. For us poor slobs who can only afford to buy the cheaper coaches, we get membership in "Club Lazy Days", which gets us free breakfasts and lunches in "the Cafe". These meals can't compare to the meals in the "Crown Club", but they are also FREE, so I guess we shouldn't complain.

Keep your fingers crossed that we can get out of here tomorrow.
Check back tomorrow to see if we made it out of Tampa. Also check for pics from our visit to Apollo Beach to see the manatees. Never so many in one place!

Odds and Ends

Thursday, January 22 - Road Trip to Tampa

BULLETIN: The "cold snap" continues here in Florida. Last night temperatures dropped to 33 degrees overnight. When we awoke this morning, we found that the flowers (Impatiens) we purchased at Lowes had frozen and croaked in the frost. We also had 3 night-blooming jasmine plants which we planted last week. They were looking a bit frozen this morning, but they are supposed to be hardy enough to withstand temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees. Hopefully, they will survive. The "cold snap" is scheduled to end tomorrow, tonight being the last "cold" night for a while.

We left PSL this afternoon at 2PM, bound for Lazy Days RV Super Center in Tampa (Seffner), FL, arriving shortly after 5PM. We are here for a couple of things - body work on the motor home at Lazy Days, and to have the van rigged for towing at Camping World. We are currently "camped out" in the Lazy Days parking lot for tonight. Tomorrow evening we will move onto the Rally Park here for two nights. We are hopeful that the work on the motor home will be completed either tomorrow, or Saturday, so that we can return to PSL on Sunday AM. Stay tuned to this blog for updates.

Yesterday at PSL, the "girls" attended a luncheon sponsored by a local "spa". Not to be left out, the "guys" decided that we would sponsor our own luncheon, so we piled into my van (there were 5 of us), and headed for the local "Golden Corral" for their "Senior Luncheon Buffet", a $6.99 all-you-can-eat extravaganza. To look at the 5 of us, one might wonder why we needed to go to such a place, as none of us look "undernourished"! However, EAT we DID!!! To be honest, I was feeling quite full after the first trip through the buffet stations (there were 4 of these). However, the rest of the guys were going back for another round, so I grabbed a clean plate and joined them, which turned out to be a B_I_G mistake!! I have to say, though, that the food was really good - hot and delicious - and well displayed. After our sumptuous repast, we returned to the park and I went back to my coach to take a nap (after walking the dogs).

Meanwhile, the "girls" had gone on a shopping spree after their luncheon. I promise to have more on this in my next entry, as I hope to also be able to post a few pictures. I will only say that, after the shopping spree, they ended up at TGI Friday's for a drink, which led to another exciting episode in the life of the retirees at PSL.

Be sure to check back for this adventure, 'cause I promise it will be entertaining. See you then!

Time to Think

Wednesday, January 21 - The Day After

I titled my entry today for several reasons. First of all, if you had the opportunity to watch the Inauguration proceedings yesterday, didn't you come away thinking that we have entered a new era in our history? I could feel the excitement, anticipation and hope of the millions upon millions of people watching and living this historic event. I have been watching and reading stories telling of how this country almost came to a standstill yesterday, so that every American could have the chance to watch history in the making.

We took the van to the dealer yesterday morning for its first oil change. We arrived at about 10AM and got checked in, then we sat in the waiting area, where there was a TV set up and it was tuned to the Inauguration (was there a TV that wasn't tuned to it?), with several customers sitting watching the proceedings. We joined them, since we were going to be there for at least 1 hour. Long story short, the van was ready just before noon, but by then, we knew that we couldn't leave at that point. In fact, when Barak Obama approached the podium to take the oath of office, I believe that everyone at the dealership was standing there watching - salesmen, mechanics, clerical workers - everyone. That's how important this moment was! Nobody left the room until President Obama finished his Inaugural Address. Watching the faces of the people there, I was struck by how intent we all were on hearing his every word, and THINKING about what he was saying.

Secondly, the title of todays entry deals with something I've been thinking about since we've been down here in Florida. We had talked about getting bored and, perhaps, doing some part-time work (whaaaaattt?). This came about last week while we were down in Stuart, FL, doing a bit of shopping (the ladies, not me - I'm just the chauffeur). We were in this small jewelry store, and they had a sign in the front window, reading "Help Wanted". Kathy saw that and exclaimed, "Hey, I could work here!". I had previously mentioned to her that I wouldn't mind working down the street from the park at QVC. Their Fulfillment center is located about a half mile down the road from our park. I picture myself as a customer service rep., answering the telephone and taking orders from all those women with nothing better to do than shop on-line. I was thinking that I could offer helpful tips to these women, you know, like "What the hell do you want that piece of crap for?", or, "Hey, ma'am, if you have that kind of money to waste, why not send some down to me?", or, "If you're lonely and just wanted to talk to someone, get a dog!". I think this could be a fun job, don't you? Imagine having a job where you could actually have fun and say anything you want without fear of being fired, 'cause honestly, I wouldn't care if I got fired from QVC. I figure that if I ever did go back to work, I would try to find a job where I could have F_U_N!

Finally, I'm thinking that I'm glad that I'm not up in New England right now. I've been seeing and hearing about how the weather has been really "newenglandy", with cold and snow. Brrrr!
However, we awoke this morning to one of the coldest mornings on record here on the Treasure Coast of Florida. It was a cool 34 degrees this morning when we stepped out for our morning walk. The sky was beautifully clear blue, and the sun was on the rise, though, so we knew that it would warm up today, eventually. For example, it is now 10:30AM and the temperature is up to 47 degrees, going, eventually, to a high in the upper 50's (not so warm here in Florida, but that would be considered a "heat wave" about now back home in New England, no?). Tomorrow, after a chilly start, the temps will reach the upper 60's, and we will be back to "normal" temps (70's - 80's) over the weekend. Nice!

Enjoy the rest of your week! Tomorrow we will head over to Tampa to have the repairs done on the motor home (damage from the blow-out last October in California, remember?), and to have the van set up for towing behind the coach.

What Did They Say?

Wednesday, January 14 - Music, then and now

As most of you know, we recently purchased a new vehicle, a 2008 Honda Odyssey. Sweet ride! One of the better options this vehicle came with is the satellite radio, and the FREE 3-month subscription to XM Radio (which is now owned by Sirius). I remember when satellite TV was available from several carriers, such as USSB, DirecTV, Dish, etc. Back in 1999 I purchased a new motor home, which came with a satellite antenna (now, they all have them). I purchased a satellite receiver, which came with a FREE 3-month subscription to USSB Satellite TV, so I was able to get a sampling of what satellite TV was like. Now, keep in mind that in those days, one had to manually direct the antenna toward the satellite in order to receive a signal. Easier said than done!
But, I digress. This is about satellite RADIO!

If you have never had the opportunity to try satellite radio, you are missing out on something very different from commercial radio. For example, you don't have to listen to commercials, and you can listen to ONE station no matter where in the country you are. We recently made the trip from Boston to Port St. Lucie, FL, and we tuned into satellite radio for the entire trip. There is quite a variety of programming available, from music to talk to sports to weather to traffic for specific metropolitan areas (a feature we made use of around Baltimore and Washington, DC).

Anyway, today we were on a shopping trip (Kathy and AJ, not me), and I was the "DD" (designated driver, for the uneducated). I tuned the satellite radio to Channel 5, which happens to be Music from the 50's! As we traveled along, listening to these oldies but goodies (which we all remembered, word-for-word), I came to the conclusion that we spoke a far different language back then, which has NEVER been duplicated! As we drove along, listening to songs like "Who put the BOP in the BOP-SHOO-BOP-SHOO-BOP", "The Witch Doctor", "I Only Have Eyes For You", etc., I was reminded of all the marvelous, make-no-sense expressions we all sang back when we were teenagers. We listened to songs with expressions like: "RAMA LAMA DING DONG", "OOH EEE OOH AAH AAH TING TANG WALLA WALLA BING BANG", "DOO WOP CHI BOP", "SHA NA NA NA SHA NA NA NA NA NA", "SHH BOOM SHH BOOM", "DIP DIP DIP DIP DIP DIP BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM GET A JOB!", "GOOBA GOOBA GOOBA GOOBA UH HUH UH HUN AY AYO UH HUH UH HUH". I mean, you just don't hear such profound lyrics these days. If you had trouble reading those lyrics, then you have no idea of the meaningful music we listened to back in the 50's and 60's! We had our own language, and NONE of it was "off color"! I can't imagine why our parents were against our listening to "Rock and Roll". That was MUSIC!!

I am tempted to subscribe to XM/Sirius satellite radio after my FREE trial subscription runs out next month, just to be able to continue to listen to "our songs". If anyone reading this has satellite radio, and you were born AFTER 1970, please tune in to Channel 5 and give it a listen. You may just find that I am right, that this was REAL MUSIC. If you do tune in, please let me know, and give me your opinion.

Thanks!

Assembly Day and Visit to Jupiter

Tuesday, January 13 - a visit to Jupiter, FL

The picture above was taken this evening, after returning from a visit to see Mary in Jupiter. As you can see, Beasley is getting a nibble from AJ.

We traveled to Jupiter this morning to visit with Mary Lawler, an old friend from Beverly, who is now living here. After giving AJ a tour of her condo, we all piled into the Odyssey for a tour of Jupiter, Juno Beach, and Palm Beach. In Jupiter, we stopped at the Jupiter Inlet and took a walk out on the jetty, where there were several fishermen with lines in the water. From there, we had lunch in a little restaurant in Juno Beach, the Juno Beach Fish House, and the food was excellent. After lunch, we traveled south to Palm Beach and visited the Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, where Mary once auditioned for the choir. All along the way, Mary pointed out other interesting sights, which we decided we had to visit at some future time.

We had a wonderful visit with Mary, who looked so much better than the last time we had seen her, just before Thanksgiving. She had recently had knee-replacement surgery, her second one, and was at home recuperating when a vehicle crashed into her condo, coming right into her kitchen, causing some very serious damage. Fortunately, Mary was in another part of the house when this took place. However, the damage has since been repaired, and her recuperation from the surgery is almost complete, so we found her to be in great spirits when we arrived, which was a relief to us.

Yesterday, Monday, was "assembly day" here in PSL. We had purchased a storage bench at BJs, and a Chiminea at Lowes, both of which had to be assembled. The storage bench was easy to assemble, and required no tools. All the pieces just snapped together, and I had it completed within 15 minutes. The Chiminea, on the other hand, proved to be a bit of a challenge to assemble. AJ noted that the box stated that it would take 20 minutes to put together. I began by laying out all the pieces to make sure that I had them all before starting the assembly. I began the assembly at Step #1, and we noted the time. By the time I had tightened the last bolt, about 1 hour had elapsed. At some point during the process, I noticed that the instructions included a caveat just before Step #1 stating that "assembly should be done by two persons". I had not seen this statement before I began the assembly. However, I realized that four persons would have been challenged to assemble this thing in 20 minutes!!

I have been carrying a batch of fire wood in the motor home for well over a year, and we finally got the opportunity to use it last night in the chiminea. I grilled steak tips on our grill for dinner, and while doing that, I was under siege from the mosquitoes, so I was apprehensive about lighting a fire and sitting outside. However, by 7PM the mosquitoes were gone, and it was quite pleasant outside by the fire. You can be sure that we will repeat that scene again and again here, now that we have the chiminea.

Tomorrow night, our niece, Wendy, will arrive to spend a few days escaping the frigid New England weather of late. We anticipate having lts of laughs with her here. On Saturday, sadly, both AJ and Wendy will depart PSL to return to New England. The bright note here is that they are both on the same flight home, so AJ will not have to return alone.

Now that the "ice" is broken, we are hoping that we will get to entertain more family members here in PSL. We just love being able to "show off"our beautiful resort. Just ask AJ.

Be sure to check out the web album to see the pictures of everything I've described above.

Here's the link to the web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AssemblyDayAndVisitToJupiterFL?authkey=PeHejjeTXrE&feat=directlink

Florida - The "AJ" Visit (Week 1)

Sunday, January 11, 2009 - Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Almost one week has passed since we arrived here in sunny, warm Florida with AJ, and we've had lots of fun, so far. We've introduced AJ to our favorite breakfast place here, the Bagel Street Cafe, where the bagel sandwiches are scrumptious! Also, we went to a pizza party here at the RV resort last Wednesday evening. On Thursday afternoon, Kathy and I began taking a "ballroom dance" class (free). Our first dance was the rumba - we had some good laughs with this one! Then, on Friday afternoon at 5 there was a free "social hour", with beer, wine, hors d'ouvres, pop corn, etc. Who knew retirement in Florida would be so busy!

Yesterday, we traveled north to visit the Borsettis at their new winter "home" at TGO (The Great Outdoors). We were joined by Charlie and Kathy Burch for the trip. About 3 miles from the exit all traffic came to a dead stop and we sat there for 30 minutes without moving one inch! Seems that there was an accident about 1 mile ahead of us, which had all lanes of I-95N blocked. When we finally arrived at TGO, we spent about 1 hour just catching up and getting a tour of John and Nancy's new digs. Next, we boarded the golf carts for a guided tour of the resort at TGO. What a beautiful resort. We had visited there about 20 years ago, just after TGO opened its doors, but it has changed so much that we didn't recognize it as the same place. It is now almost a complete village, with a restaurant, a church, houses, RV pads, and buildings with huge ports for motor homes, a complete kitchen and bath, and a living room, along with a screened in room - all overlooking a beautiful golf course. The pictures below (and in the web album) will give you some idea of what we saw.

The above picture is the sign on the front lawn of John and Nancy's lot.

The picture above was taken in front of the building, where you can see their motor home, which is parked under the "car port". Be sure to check out the web album for more pictures of their property.

Today, we started the day off by attending 9:00AM Mass at St. Bernadette's Church. After Mass, we returned to the motor home and sat outside in the sun for a few hours, relaxing. At about 2:30PM, we decided to head up to Ft. Pierce for "Happy Hour" at the Tiki Bar before returning to the motor home for dinner. It was a beautiful afternoon for sitting at the Tiki Bar, which is located on the Intercoastal Waterway, surrounded by water and fishing boats. On the return trip, we took the scenic route, along Route A1A, through Hutchinson Island, returning to the mainland at Jensen Beach. The area where we are is known as the "Treasure Coast", and one trip through beautiful Hutchinson Island will show you why.

We are hoping that, based upon the descriptions we post here, more people will decide to drop in for a visit. We love showing off our "winter home" to our guests. There are so many things to see and do here, and we have only begun to scratch the surface. So, come on down!!

The web album contains a myriad of photographs, some from Christmas, right on up to our visit to the Borsettis, yesterday. Check it out.

Here's the link to the web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/MiscellaneousPhotosDecemberJanuary?authkey=DmYf3RB-mjM&feat=directlink

New Additions

Today's post concerns a couple of new additions to my blog page. The first is a link to another blog, which is by good friends of ours who just happen to own a B & B in Virginia Beach. Please be sure to check out this blog, which you will find on the right side of this page, along with the other blog links. Also, I have added a link to the Barclay Cottage B & B website, as well. Please be sure to visit this web site often.

If anyone is planning a trip to the Virginia Beach area, I strongly recommend that you make arrangements to stay at Barclay Cottage, as I know you will be well taken care of by the innkeepers, Steve and Marie Louise.

So, please check out both links. And don't be afraid to post comments to let them know what you think of their blog and web site.

Happy New Year to All!

Well, I guess it's been quite a while since I've posted anything here. I can't say that I've been busy and that's why I haven't posted, because that's not true. Fact is, I just haven't had much of interest to post.

We are now back in Florida. We left Beverly on Sunday, Jan. 4th, in our Odyssey van, which was packed to the ceiling with "stuff" (ya gotta have stuff, right?). We brought along an invited guest, my sister-in-law, who will be staying with us until January 17th.

The trip was uneventful, except for a couple of "minor" problems at the hotels we stayed at. On Sunday night we arrived at a Red Roof Inn in Aberdeen, MD. Upon checking into our rooms, my sister-in-law discovered that there were no pillows on her bed, and the TV remote was missing. A quick call to the front desk brought Linda, the night manager, with the pillows and the remote. Linda is a rotund young lady (about 300 lbs rotund), and by the time she arrived at the room, which was about 75 steps from the front office, she was huffing and puffing and not smiling! I bet Linda is the reason why this particular Inn does not offer a "continental breakfast" - it would never see the light of day.

Night #2 brought us to another Red Roof Inn, this one in Savannah, GA. Apparently, when I made the reservation on-line, I entered the wrong inn number, so when we arrived, they didn't have a reservation for us. Fortunately, there were rooms available, just not what we had reserved. They wanted to put us up on the 2nd floor, but I told them that I was traveling with two 60-something women who were tired and cranky, and there was no way I was telling them they had to climb up to the second floor before they could relax. Plus the fact that I was not looking forward to trucking all the bags up a flight of stairs. Sooooo, the desk clerk relented and put us on the first floor. After getting settled, I went down to the vending area to get a bucket of ice for our evening libations, only to discover that the ice machine was not working. When I brought this to the attention of the desk clerk, she directed me to the ice machine on the second floor, in a tone that said "If you had taken the rooms I first assigned, you would have a working ice machine!".

When we were finally ready to "hit the hay", we found cat hairs on our pillows and sheets!! We were so tired and ready to sleep that we just picked them off the pillows and sheets and climbed into our bed. My sister-in-law had no apparent problems with her room this time.

So now we are in sunny, warm Florida. The temperature here upon our arrival was in the low 80's, no humidity, with a very pleasant breeze. Today, we went out to breakfast and then drove our guest around the area, did a bit of shopping (mostly for groceries), then we went to the clubhouse for a pizza party. The cost of the pizza party was $5/person, and included beer and wine (all you wanted), and pizza (also all you wanted, until it was gone). Nice being retired, eh?

Now that we are in Florida, I'm guessing that I will have more time to write, although I may not have anything exciting to write about, unless you consider trips to Home Depot and Lowes to be exciting!?! At any rate, keep checking back for new posts.