Kris and Mark Go Big Screen

News has reached Florida that a new 42" TV is now residing in Cincinnati, OH. I am mildly jealous. Word is that, after watching "Ice Station Zebra", the temperature in the TV room had dropped 15 degrees. Also, astronauts on the International Space Station have reported being able to see the screen clearly from space. Wow!!

I Canna Git Any More Power, Captain!!

(Note: I wrote this post yesterday, but Wickett wanted to go for a walk at the time that I was searching for a picture. I saved the post for later and then never went back to actually post it. SENIOR MOMENT!)


Most of you have probably seen news coverage of our electricity problems here in Florida today. It was evidently a domino effect started by a fire at a substation and then involved other parts of the grid, including a nuclear reactor. Fortunately for us, the most serious trouble was on the east coast although Tampa, St. Petersburg and even The Keys were affected. Locally, the outages were much shorter. Here in the park, we lost power for a short time during the night and then again for about 20 minutes just after 1:00 this afternoon. We didn't really have any travel plans for today, so we just stayed close to home. So many people here have animals that power failure can cause problems if the RV is closed up, the people are away and the AC goes out for any length of time. I'm sure that it is problem for regular house dwellers too but these big metal boxes heat up faster than the typical house. With much cooler temps predicted for the next couple of days, we'll probably hear the furnace come on a few times at night.

Temperatures drop into the 70's

Bring in your pets and potted plants, we're in for a cold snap. I couldn't resist. After a string of days with highs in the mid 80's and lows barely dropping out of the 70's, the forecast this week is for cooler weather. Somehow we'll make it through.

We have been catching up on "around the house" activities. Sue has been doing some cleaning and I have started learning some new quartet songs that we want to add to our repertoire when I get back to Ohio. I am also starting to work on income tax returns. Not that we have forgotten how to relax. We still have time for reading, some TV and a nap once in a while.

Yesterday we went next door for afternoon drinks and snacks with our neighbors Lee and Marie. We got to know two other couples from our "neighborhood", the Hershmans from Michigan and the Martins from Ontario. It was a nice party. The Martins have one of those custom Prevost coaches. They have had it for 20 years and it has been in every state but Hawaii. Since they drove it to Alaska, I wouldn't be surprised if it had been in all or most of the Canadian provinces too.

The park musical contingent, that I have become part of, is continuing to work on songs for our performance in March. The activities really make the time go by quickly. It's amazing that March is almost here.



Speaking of basketball:

The mighty Malvern Hornets continue to win their way through the tournament (22-0). Now on to the Districts to play Frontier Local on Tuesday night.

Kent State traveled to California and beat 20th ranked St. Marys on their own court

The Cavaliers made a gigantic trade, bringing in four new players, two of whom have Halter Family ties. Wally Szczerbiak played at Miami of Ohio when Kris was there and Ben Wallace played on the team at Tri-C where Mike works (and Sue and myself used to work).

All this excitement and then the Indians start playing spring training games on Thursday.

FUN! FUN! FUN!

Partial Total Eclipse

These are pictures that I took of the recent eclipse. Unfortunately, a bank of light clouds rolled in just before totality. We could still see what was going on pretty well, but the clouds messed up the auto focus on the camera. The last picture shows the problem with focusing.

Stylin' Robot

As promised, here is a picture of my robot in his new clothes. He seems to enjoy being dressed up, but there have been some complaints about possible tan lines.

The Shuttle Has Landed

The Space Shuttle Atlantis passed over us this morning at about 9:00. It was a little to the south and there were some high clouds, so we didn't see anything. Supposedly, if the sky was clear, you could see it as a shiny speck with the naked eye. We did get to hear the sonic boom as it re-entered the atmosphere. There were two booms, very loud and close together. You get one from the nose and one from the tail. When we went back inside, we watched the landing on TV. A nice start to the day.

Kris called last night to say that she arrived safely in Cincinnati at about 7:00 pm. She had to go back to work today. Poor Kris.

After much trial and error, the ice-maker in the fridge is working for the first time on this trip. We no longer have to live like savages.

Bill Wins At Bingo and Kris Heads North

Well, it finally happened. On our fourth trip to Monday night bingo, I finally won a game and collected $32. That will keep us going back, I'm sure. Sue and Kris came close on a couple of games, but no cigar.

We made a stop at Beall's clothing store yesterday. Kris was looking for some things, but didn't find anything that she liked. I made a purchase that should remove any last doubt about whether or not senility is creeping up on me. I bought clothes for the robot that Sue got me for Christmas. Hey, they were on sale and he seemed so self conscious just standing around naked. Now he looks so cute!! Pictures will follow soon, I'm sure. FYI, he takes size 0-3 months, and prefers sports or music related duds. We had been wanting to take Kris to Iguana Mia for Mexican food, so we stopped there for lunch before heading home.

We took Kris to the airport this afternoon and she is in the air as I am writing this post, winging her way back to Cincinnati. Thanks to Mark, Sammy and the kitties for sharing her with us. We really enjoyed having her here. The week flew by. I guess that we won't see her again until Andy and Kim's wedding in May.

Fleas, Jam and Pasta

Today's activities began with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was the first time that we've gone out for breakfast since we got to Florida. We then drove south to Bonita Springs and went to the Flamingo Island Flea Market. It was our third attempt at visiting flea markets. The first two were big disappointments. This one was not. It was very much like the big one that was near us in Arizona last winter. There were lots of interesting things to look at and we even bought a few things. Sue bought a very "Florida" serving tray and a beach cover-up. I got sets of battery-powered lights for our bicycles. A front and rear light for each bike. They cost $1.00 each. I hope that they keep working until April, at least.

After we got back to the park, I packed up the Casino and related accessories and went over to "Gator" Lockyer's site for a jam session. Gator is kind of the unofficial organizer for music activities here. We had a total of 4 guitar players, and Gator plays bass. There was one guy who came by who just sang. Everyone took turns doing songs and toward the end, a woman who lived at a nearby site brought her guitar over and did a few numbers. We started at 1:00 and it was after 4 when we stopped. A good time was had by all. The plan is for us to do a 3 hour gig at the "end of the season" party that they have in March , before people start heading north or wherever. It should be fun, They will set up a tent for us to play outdoors and the park has it's own sound system. I am infusing some good old rock and roll into the country scene that dominates here.

Next we drove over to our favorite Italian restaurant, Nino's, for a dinner of pasta. Since none of us had really eaten any lunch, we were hungry. When we left Nino's, we were not hungry.

Tomorrow we have some simple, sightseeing plans with a big evening of bingo to finish off the day.

Latest Updates

Rather than be redundant, I'll just say that you should go to Kris' blog (link is below my profile) to see what we have been doing lately. The beach was great on Friday. It was a little crowded, and the youngest member of our group got a little sunburn, but she's ok.

She's Here!!

Kris arrived safely yesterday at approximately 2:00 pm. Her original arrival time was 1:24 pm, but the wintry weather in Ohio made some de-icing necessary before take-offs in Cincinnati and Columbus. Safety first. The weather that greeted her here was rainy and cloudy. It's not what we would have planned, but the rain was really needed down here. The manatees were starting to use Segways to get around because the rivers and streams were so shallow. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, nature tries to catch up all at once. We've had about 2 inches of rain in the last 24 hours, along with thunder, lightning and some strong winds. It's clearing up now and tomorrow looks great. We are planning to hit the beaches.

Kris had planned on a day of shopping with Sue sometime during her visit. The weather made them decide to do that today. They left this morning for a girls' day out. There are several, big outlet malls in the area, so they have a lot of stores to choose from. I don't expect to see them until late afternoon. Wickett and I have transformed the bus into a "Man Cave" and are drinkin' beer and playin' Jethro Tull real loud out the windows. He knows all the words to "Aqualung".

Well, the sun is trying to appear now, so maybe the rain is over. I thought that I would wait until the weather was better to take pictures of Kris ( and she's not here anyway) so maybe tomorrow we'll have some photos.

Bill's Barge

I can just see us cruising up and down the ol' Caloosahatchee in this baby. I could even make some money by giving really slow Everglades sightseeing trips to balance out the airboat tours.

We see that Mike and Kim both got weather related days off today. Enjoy!!



Countdown to Kris' Visit: 1 day

Lunch And A Show

Today, a large group from Upriver went to the Broadway Palms Dinner Theater in Fort Myers. It was a matinee performance of Guys and Dolls, with a buffet dinner prior to the show. Both the food and the show were great. We got a chance to talk to some people from our park that we have seen, but not really gotten to know. The cast members in the show were really good actors and dancers. We already have made arrangements to go back to see Anything Goes on March 9th.














Right now, we are watching the Pro Bowl. Of course, we are rooting for Josh Cribbs and the five other Browns that are playing. Go AFC!! Lots of sports of interest in the news right now. The Malvern boys won #20 to finish the season undefeated. The KSU men won #19. One more will give them their 10th consecutive season with at least 20 wins. The Purdue men went into Madison, Wisconsin yesterday and beat the 8th ranked Badgers. And last, but not least, the Miami Red Hawks' hockey team is ranked #1 in the nation. Unfortunately, they hosted second ranked Michigan for two games over the weekend and lost one and tied the other.

The weather here has been great again today. The humidity has dropped a bit, so it is more comfortable. It looks like it will be good when Kris is here too. There is a chance for a little rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, but overall, it should be nice for her visit.

Countdown to Kris' visit: 2 days

Celebrate Ohio

Today, at 5:00, we had the Ohio Night potluck dinner. As usual for these potlucks, people brought all kinds of good food to share. Sue made the Halter family favorite, cheesy potato casserole. Needless to say, there was none of it left to bring home. The planners put together an Ohio slide show and sheets with lots of interesting Ohio facts. Then we all gave a short talk about ourselves, where we lived in Ohio and facts about our county. It was open to people who lived in Ohio now, lived there in the past or just wished that they lived in Ohio. We had representatives from 22 of Ohio's 88 counties. At the beginning of the dinner, they read a letter from Governor Strickland in which he proclaimed today as the date of the Upriver Ohio Recognition Dinner, and gave his good wishes to all of the Ohio snowbirds in the park.

Countdown to Kris' visit: 4 days

Another Beach Visit and Hornets Rule

Yesterday we drove over to Sanibel Island. We mostly drove around to get a better feel for the area. We had not been to the island before and it is one of our planned destinations when Kris is here. Even though it was Super Fat Tuesday, we had a sensible lunch at The Lighthouse Cafe. We bought some island duds at a shop next door(cap for me, t-shirt for Sue). Since we had to pass the grocery store on the way home, we stopped and stocked up for the weekend. Overall, we learned quite a bit about the local geography.

The pictures were taken at Senior Night after Malvern beat Strasburg, 76-45. That runs their record to 19-0, with one more game next Saturday. Nephew Trevor lead all scorers with 25 points, including 4 "3's". At 6'5", you can see where Trevor got his height.(hint: not from Grandma)

Hey Kids, What Day Is It?

It's Super Tuesday. It's Fat Tuesday.

It's Super Fat Tuesday!!
(pass the chili-cheese fries)