Sunday, January 31, 2010

I saw the Collingsworths last night and they are very impressive. The mom plays the piano. No, I don't mean she just pounds it, she plays it extremely well. At the last quartet convention, she played with Dino, and I'd say she is equally as good as he is or better. One of the daughters was wearing a watch and that is the only jewelry I saw. I didn't see the dad's left hand to see if he was wearing a ring, nor did I see the daughter's left hand who is engaged. I also saw no makeup. Extremely refreshing.

Tonight it will be the Proclaimers and I don't know anything about them. Last night there was a huge crowd and I helped to fill the choir loft. There were people in the foyer and closed circuit in the fellowship hall. They also had chairs at the end of each pew. Remember when the Naz in Oskaloosa did that and the fire marshall put a stop to it?

Have a good day! High in the 60's here today.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I guess it must be time to write again. Thursday I went to the yacht club again to do people watching and reading. This time a lady got out with a grocery bag and a large group of birds flocked around her. My first thought was that at Forrest Cemetery they would bite her, but evidently these don't do that. She took her bag over to the dock and proceeded to feed the birds. Some of the bread she threw into the water, some onto the dock and some she threw up into the air and the flying birds caught them. Later she went to her car and got another bag and repeated the same thing. There is a bakery thrift store here, so I assume that's where she got the bread.

Friday I went back to the yacht club and it was uneventful. Some of the birds there are white with black tips on their back feathers and have long curved beaks. They have long legs and stand on only one leg to rest. They are probably about a foot tall at the shoulder. I have no idea what they are called.

I'd tried three markets and wasn't pleased, so everyone I asked said to go to Plant City. It's about 10 miles from Lakeland, so I decided to go there. After driving around and not finding anything, I stopped and asked. I was directed to a specific place, and it was the right place. I felt like I was in a foreign country! It was an outdoor market and they ship all over the country all year around. They have a huge variety of fruits and vegetables. Of course the ones I wanted were oranges and strawberries. I got 5 pounds of oranges for $1.39. There were 9 in the bag and they ranged from baseball-sized to softball-sized. I haven't tried one yet, but the samples were extremely juicy. I also got a quart of strawberries for $2.99 and they are very good.

Now for the real treat. They also sell strawberry shakes and strawberry shortcake in various forms. There was a huge line for them, but they make them on an assembly line and the wait is very short. I had strawberry shortcake for dinner. The bowl was bigger than normal styrofoam bowls and was almost to run over and then heaped up and then whipped topping on top! I had mine without sugar and it was extremely delicious! Phyllis and Ila, you can also get the strawberries with ice cream.

After that I did laundry and watched TV.

Today I went to the yacht club again and some college students were collecting things to send to Village 81 in Haiti and raising money to help build a hospital. The village gets it's name because it is 81 miles (or kilometers) from Port au Prince. I noticed a man come and go over to the lake with two lawn chairs. Later I looked over there and he also had a bag and was feeding the birds. Now I'm back at the motel waiting until time to go to church for supper at 3:30 and the Collingsworth Family at 6.

As I told Melinda this morning, it is a little on the humid side here today and is supposed to get to 79. When I complained about the humidity she informed me that I wasn't going to get her to feel sorry for me! Tomorrow the high is only supposed to be in the mid 60's.

Have a nice day!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I just returned from a little excursion. First I went to a place that was recommended for reading and watching water. It wasn't Red Rock or Manatee Beach, but it'll do for this week. I was parked right next to the place to launch boats and I've never seen that done before and it was quite interesting. The interesting thing was that a man came alone to launch his boat and I couldn't figure out how he was going to do it. He ended up by jumping into the boat to stay out of the water. There was another person that I never did figure out the gender of, but he/she was more than a bit overweight. He/she proceeded to get a red coaster wagon out of the pickup and load it with stuff. "Stuff" included a metal folding chair, a cooler, and I couldn't see what else. Then he/she pulled the wagon out on the dock and proceeded to fish.

I just saw footage of another sink hole and I'd hate to drive into it! It's 12 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep and in the traveled portion of a highway. It looks like if you drove into in at highway speed you wouldn't get hurt. You'd just be dead!

After that I went to Target to look for a blazer or cardigan sweater. They had about 4 racks of large sized ladies clothes. There was a sweater that would have worked color-wise. The tag said extra large and it appeared to possibly fit Melinda. I thought maybe it was extremely stretchy. Wrong! They probably had a dozen of them with size extra large tags in them in various colors and they were all the same size. Why do they even bother to put a tag in them!? There is a blazer at Catherine's that would work, but extravagant Linda doesn't want to spend $19. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel like it.

From there I decided to have my one-a-day meal. I thought of various places, and finally decided on Golden Corral again. It is the cheapest and most nutritious if you use your brain, and I did. Well, it's the cheapest if you don't have a burger and fries and most of you know burgers do a long ways with me.

I've probably meandered long enough. Tonight I get to meet the mother of a lady I know from Jodi's church and I'm a little excited about that. Last night Jim Diehl told a very nice story about George Comstock. He also told about one of his staff in Oskaloosa leaving a bunch of bills and he and some others paid them after he left.

Have a nice day/night!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Since I've been asked about this, I guess I'll address the subject. (Of course it's one of my favorite subjects anyway!) I usually have an orange for breakfast and strawberries for supper. Or sometimes I have leftovers. Breakfast can be any time from 7 until 11 or so and supper can be anytime after 7 or 8.

Sometime in between I buy a meal. Sometimes it's a sit-down meal and sometimes it's fast food in the van while I'm at a concert early to get a good parking space. After I eat in the van is when I usually do my "through the Bible" reading. One or two mornings a week I go to the Breakfast Club where I get donuts, OJ, coffee and a good concert.

Now the reason I thought about this subject is that today I went to Golden Corral for dinner. I've been there 3 times at various times and it's always very busy. As in a lot of snow bird areas, they seem to cater to seniors. For instance if you go on Monday through Friday between 1 and 3 and are a senior, you can eat for $6.79 plus tax including your choice of drink. That's about $3 less than in the evening without drinks.

As I look at all the seniors there, I'm reminded of Mom. She and her friends in Arizona often went to a place called Furr's that also catered to seniors and was a buffet. They really liked it. What I like best at Golden Corral is their very fall-apart roast beef and their cauliflour that is cooked until it is done. Both are very good. They also have very good lettuce toppings and other good things. Did I mention their jelly beans and chocolate cake and free coffee to go with dessert? I've also noticed chocolate covered bananas but haven't tried them.

Now you know about my eating habits. Oh yes, my fast food meals are about $2 each, so you can see I'm not spending much for food.

Have a nice day and try to stay warm and don't fall down!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Okay I forgot to mention that Lee got the branch off the roof and moved brush to the curb and hauled firewood today. He says there's about 3 or 4 more hours of work to be done. The roof wasn't hurt, but the glass was knocked out of the grill. He's going to send me pictures again. I only saw one that he sent before.
Tonight's service was exceptional as was this morning's. I would suggest that you try to see the services the next three nights. They are on the internet streaming at www.lakegibsonchurch.com. They start at 7 eastern time. It's probably 45 minutes or so before Jim Diehl speaks after the start. I think you can see past ones also and if so, today's would both be excellent.

Their minister of music sort of reminds me of Bill Green. He directs like Bill and has a big voice. They have a very good pianist. There is also an organist, and another keyboard player, two trumpets, a flute and a couple of others.

The church reminds me of the Naz in Oskaloosa when Beardens were there. Last night they asked everyone who was born and raised in Florida to raise their hands, and it was probably less that 5%! It's sort of a melting pot of denominations too, including a retired Methodist preacher.
Good news! The Pfeifers are as good as I had heard. Between the three of them they play tenor sax, alto sax, guitar, and excellent trumpet. The women have very huge strong voices. They were good last night and this morning.

Jim Diehl was excellent this morning too. He talked a little about their son's death. An interesting fact about Jim is that he used to want to have Jim Zabel's job! As for me, I'd rather listen to Jim Diehl than Jim Zabel! He also talked about ordaining the first Nazarene pastor in Baghdad recently.

It is supposed to get to 80 today and then rain in the early morning and "cool off."

I just talked to Lee and he is on his way to my house to try to get the branch aff my roof. He is going to send me a picture of it.

Have a nice day!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Well, blogger decided to change things and I thought I would never get done jumping through their hoops to get on here. By now, I've probably forgotten what I was going to say!

I saw Lulu yesterday and this morning both and she was good, but not as funny as I had been told. The things she told about Hee Haw were quite interesting. She answered questions both mornings and by being there both days I did learn a lot of intersting things.

Tomorrow night I get to see the Pfeifers and then from Sunday morning through Wednesday evening I will get to hear both Pfeifers and Jim Diehl. I'm really looking forward to that too.

It rained last night and was somewhat hazy today, but I wasn't at the beach anyway. I'm at Suburban Extended Stay in Lakeland and plan to be here for a week or more. I really like staying here. I did laundry today. It was a pretty eventful day.

Lee called this evening to tell me I have a limb on the roof of my garage off one of Roy's trees. I also lost the big limb off my tree that shades my deck. That's a major bummer. The new tree was supposed to get big enough to shade it before the old one was gone. Lee did say the new tree looks good and that the deck doesn't seem to be damaged. He didn't think the garage roof was damaged, but he also didn't get out the ladder to look at it on the ice. It didn't appear that my power had been off. He said if I were home I couldn't get my van out of the garage, and I wouldn't like that.

Have a nice day!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Day three at the beach was nice. Sadly tomorrow I will be leaving after the breakfast club to go back to Lakeland. I really like Lakeland the best except that it isn't close to the Manatee beach. It is really a nice beach for me to go to.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I finally saw an Iowa license plate. It was at the beach and was from Pottawatommie County. I didn't see any people around it.

I hope Lulu is as good as I've been told. If not, I'll be disappointed.

Have fun in iceland!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

If all goes as planned, tomorrow will be my third day in a row at the beach. Yesterday it was a little cool, but today it was quite nice. Early it was a little cool, but by the time I left at 2 I had moved to the shade. Today there was a dolphin playing just off shore and that was fun to watch.

In case you are interested (and I know Ila and Phyllis are interested) they do have DQs in Florida. I found one today and made a purchase. It was quite tasty.

Thursday morning here in Bradenton I am going to see Lulu Roman, who used to be on Hee Haw. She was the lady who was huge and had black hair and was quite funny. She has lost over 200 pounds and is still quite funny I'm told. I may go see her again on Friday morning in Lakeland.

Have a nice day!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Today I moved from Lakeland to Bradenton and spent most of the day at the beach. It was overcast and very windy. There were big waves and the yellow flag was out. There were a lot of kids there and I wondered why. Then I realized it was ML King day and there was no school.


I have noticed that all the lanes on streets and highways in Florida have reflectors on them and that it is really helpful, especially after dark. It seemed like it would be a good idea for Iowa to have them too. Then I realized it wouldn't work. The snow plows would break them all off or else the snow couldn't be removed.


Last night I saw Karen Peck again. Thursday and Friday mornings I will see Lulu Roman. She used to be on Hee Haw and was a very funny and very fat lady. Since then she has lost over 200 pounds. I'm told she is extremely funny. Friday night I might see Legacy 5 again, but I'm not sure about that yet.


Then Saturday night I'll see the Pfeifers for the first time. I'm really looking forward to that. They use brass and reeds. Then Sunday morning through Wednesday night I'll see the Pfeifers and Jim Diehl. I'm really looking forward to that.


Saturday, January 16, 2010

I just thought I'd tell you that yesterday morning I turned off my heat and I still haven't turned it back on. Isn't that just unreal? I don't need the AC in here, but it's quite comfortable in here and you know how cold I usually am.

Have a nice day, and say warm!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Okay, so I hit a button with the mouse long before I was finished. Let me finish. This clod appeared to be in his 50's or 60's. Now I'm aware that sometimes very successful people are quite unusual, but this was a little much! He finally went to do something else (thankfully) and the couple next to me and I discussed whether anything he had said was true. He even described how he prayed for his mamma's house during the worst hurricane they ever had and it went around the south side of, the east side of it, the north side of it, and the west side of it and didn't touch it. Now I can believe that God would do that, but then the story goes on. He stood in his mamma's yard and looked up at the eye of the hurricane. At last it was time for the concert to start and I thought, "whew." Wrong! He still didn't shut up even when the concert started. Now that the concert had started he began to also move perpetually. His arms and legs were flying around and his head was nodding or shaking to go along with whatever was in the music. He would make the man we bought gluten from look like he never moved! After 3 or 4 songs he must have worn down a little bit and was stiller and quieter. I noticed the singers looked at him a few times too. I always see unusual things at the Brumley Fest, but this one is the first I've seen here in Florida and it was a little more than I had seen before.

The concert was very good and they do have a new guy singing with them who replaces the one who is now with Ernie Haase. This new guy is a 12th grade English teacher and a very good musician. He has won numerous solo contests but had never been on a bus before. He also plays piano. He is very quiet and the others are loud so it is quite different on the bus for them. This is his second weekend with them. Karen assured us they have "never had no English teacher on their bus before." He said he'd been trying for two weeks but hadn't been able to teach them anything yet.

Phyllis you are going to have a ball in Florida. The only way to get from point A to point B is by doing a u-turn! You'll love it!

Sunday I'm going from here to Lakeland and I'm going to have to talk to a local to find out how to get there. Two of the highways I need to go on are closed because of sink holes. Hopefully Lynne (or her husband) can fill me in.

I bought some strawberries today. Tonight that clod was telling that the problem with the strawberries is that the buds for new strawberries may have frozen and there won't be any strawberries next year. It they are like the ones I'm familiar with, buds growing now would be strawberries long before next year.

Well, I think I've rambled long enough for tonight. Believe me, if I see the clod at a concert again I will be sure to look for a seat far away from where he is.

Have a nice day/night.
Okay I went to see Karen Peck and New River tonight and they were very good. But first, oh my! I was sitting in the parking lot having supper and doing some great people watching. There went a man (or a clod) walking in to the concert. He was wearing baggy jeans and his shirt tail was about 3/4 out. Perhaps he had combed his hair in the last month or so. Reminded me of a certain high school classmate of mine who had a farm just over the fence south of where we farmed. Need I say more? As is my custom, I went clear to the front and got a nice seat on the second row. If it's only one person, you can almost always get a good seat in front. At least I thought it was a good seat. I sat beside a very nice couple from Ohio and was just beginning to have a nice conversation with them when this clod in front of us started to talk to us. It was that same guy I had seen in the parking lot and there was no way he could shut up! He could probably talk at least ten times as much as I can! He seemed to know everything there was to know. He told us he had the largest orange grove in Florida - 10,000 acres!
Well, I'm at a Mom and Pop in Sebring. I tried to find a motel on line and they were all $100 or else they had very bad reviews. I finally found one south of Lake Placid for 75, but the lady didn't want to reserve it because she had plenty available, so I was going to just go there in the afternoon yesterday. When I came through Sebring, I decided to drive through and look a little bit. I went past this one that looked very clean and all the vehicles were nice looking and not junkers. I decided to stop and inquire. It was $40 so I asked to see the room. It is better than a lot of major chains! So I stayed last night and will be here tonight and Saturday nights.

Lynne lives about 5 miles outside of Sebing, so I drove past her house. I was amazed! From here to there I drove through orange groves on both sides of the road and they were really close to the road. I went past a u-pick place for strawberries and oranges, so I may go there later today. There is also a farmer's market here. All the way from Bradenton to here yesterday I drove through a very rural area and saw citrus as well as about a mile of strawberry fields. I'd like to see Melinda eat most of what she picked there! Dad would just die, if he hadn't already, if he'd see the beef cattle here. They are Longhorns and mixed breeds that are of very poor quality. I can't even think of any as poor as these in Iowa. It occurred to me yesterday that I was in an area that had orange groves like Iowa has corn fields. That's how prominent they are.

I went to a concert last night in Lake Placid and tonight I'm going to one in Avon Park. Tomorrow I'm going to meet Lynne at Bob Evans for lunch and then go to her house for the rest of the day.

Last night I talked to a man who told me a little about the citrus and strawberries. First off, if you see oranges that have fallen and are lying on the ground, there's a $50 fine for picking up ONE! The whole oranges that we get in Iowa are hand picked and put into crates on semis to go to a place to be packed for shipment. For processing they shake the trees and then hire people to pick them up off the ground. They put them in big baskets and then into end loaders and then onto semis that have mesh sides. I've seen a lot of those semis loaded. They have enough processed orange juice to last 7 months and are just trying to replenish their supply of that now, so the weather shouldn't have a price affect. I would guess it might affect the price of fresh oranges though.

I don't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but the cold weather and even the ice on the oranges actually makes them sweeter. It also keeps the trees from blooming too soon. A lot of the groves have something on the ground that is white. The man last night said he thought it was calcium or a mix of something including calcium. It looks like lime. He said when he moved here he had a tree, but it died because he didn't have any way to water it enough.

Have a nice day! I'm wondering if any one is reading this. I don't get many comments.

Linda

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Today I spent most of the day at the beach. There were a lot of people there. I'll have to admit that it doesn't seem quite right to have a playground at the beach when you have all that water and sand to play with. A lot of people had their kids there at the playground though. I didn't see anyone in the water but I did see some dolphins playing just off shore. Their fins kept coming up for several minutes.

I wonder if anyone knows anyone in Ontario. If so, call them and see if they are home. It seems like most of Ontario must be here. Still no other Iowa plates though. When you three ladies get here maybe I'll see you and you'll have Iowa plates.

This sinkhole thing is quite serious. Three of the four east bound lanes of I 4 are closed now while they fix it. Another major north-south highway is completely closed both directions for repairs.

I will probably eventually come home, but it is sure nice to be out of the cold. It is only going to get better now too. I'll have to admit I do feel a little bad when I see MANY couple my age doing just what we had planned to do together. If he was here yet not only would it be more fun, but I wouldn't have to carry everything!

Have a nice day!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The tightwad got to me, so I'm back at Motel 6 and this time I have a very nice room. Everything else was at least $20 higher, and after all, my grandfather wasn't born in Holland for nothing!

I left Sarasota this morning and went out onto the "island" and traveled from the south end of it to the north end of it. I stopped at most of the beaches and found several very nice ones. They have hard sand that I don't have trouble walking in, parking very near the gulf, playgrounds (I really needed that!), picnic tables, bath houses, restrooms, and of course places to eat. In fact I did eat at one of them, sitting on the beach at their table in the SUN. I also spent some time sitting at a picnic table and some time reading in the van in the SUN. It was quite comfortable with the temperature in the 60's with just my sweater on. It wasn't as windy today on the gulf coast as it was at Christmas on the Atlantic coast. There was just a nice breeze. I have once again retired my winter coat in anticipation of no more cold weather here. Of course cold here is nothing compared to cold in Iowa, especially on Crawley's frozen tundra!

There has been another problem caused by the cold weather here. By the way, someplace broke a record from the 1850's the other night in Florida. That's an old record. It seems that when the farmers pump from wells a lot at night it depletes the aquafers and they have huge sinkholes! At least one house has fallen in and a couple of major highways have fallen and had to be closed in this area. These things have happened in the past a couple of times when there has been a long seige of cold weather too.

After seeing all the island, I came back to the mainland at Bradenton and drove past where the series of concerts will be held in February that I have tickets for and then came to the motel. The island has bunches of places for sale, for rent or for time shares. They include weekly, daily, and monthly rates. I saw a sign welcoming returning winter guests too. I'm sure I'll be going back to the beach often while I'm here.

Have a nice day and enjoy your warm-up!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

I just got back from hearing Legacy 5 and they were great, as usual. I've now also seen plates from Hawaii, Wyoming, and Indiana.

Last night I went to a Blackwood Quartet concert, and they are not even close to as good as the Blackwood Brothers with Jimmy Blackwood! However at it I talked to a lady who knows Ila and Phyllis. Her name is Marlena Judge and she was in their Sunday School class a while back. It was about the time Lloyd died. I think she said her husband died last fall.

There was sleet forecast for here for this morning, but I didn't see it. Of course my drape was shut. Tonight it's forecast to get to 23 and that is near a record. After that, there is a gradual warm-up to start and it'll be in the 70's later in the week.

I thought of our church this evening when I got to the church. There were several big bags of grapefruit on the porch with a sign saying "free" on them.

Have a nice day and stay warm!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Well, Wednesday I had a new experience. I was at a stop light and a lady came over to the window and said something. I couldn't hear her, so I just shook my head and she left. Funny she didn't approach the vehicle in front of me or behind me. Could it have been because they both had Florida plates!? As a matter of fact I still haven't seen another Iowa plate since the girls went home. I've seen New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri at least.

The weather here is very adversely affecting the citrus crop and strawberry crop and tropical fish growers. The tropical fish growers have been able to get about 10% inside and the rest they run well water over. It is 72 degrees so it warms the water some. They could loose a lot even after it gets warmer because of a disease they get when they get too cold. I don't know how warm they need to stay but I assume since they are "tropical" that means they need to be quite warm.

I haven't heard a lot about what they do for the strawberry crop, but this is the main area for them. I also haven't seen any growing.

The citrus are helped by spraying them with water and letting it freeze on them. That insulates the fruit so it doesn't get as cold as the temperature. On the trunks of the trees it does the same thing. If it doesn't stay in the 20's for too many hours that works. Also the cold weather makes the fruit sweeter and keeps the trees from budding again too soon.

I have found southern gospel concerts on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in the mornings in Orlando, Bradenton, Lakeland, and St. Petersburg. Some have breakfast with them, some coffee time, and one even has a potluck after the concert. Some of the Friday night concerts here in Lakeland have a meal before them too. Last week I went to an after concert fellowship with sundaes.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but I'm less than a mile from Cracker Barrell!

Have a nice day and try to stay warm. Saturday it's only supposed to get to 41 but by the end of next week it's supposed to be back to near 70. People really complain about 40's and 50's here!

Monday, January 4, 2010

I guess it must be time for another post. I have been nursing a head cold and attending concerts, so I have been busy. My sinuses are much better, but I still have the sniffles and am pretty tired.

Friday evening I went to a concert with both the Booth Brothers and the Perry's. It was here in Lakeland. The Booth Brothers are from Tampa, 30 miles or so away, so this was like coming home to them. They were really wound up! Jim's parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, nieces, nephews, friends, etc. were there. His dad uses a walker and he and his mom both certainly appeared proud. Toward the end of the concert she requested a song and Michael told her they were going to do one Jim had written instead and that was fine with her, but they did them both.

Of course there was the usual talk about Michael not having his medicine or it didn't work, and he was really wired. The second half he really got with it. I had noticed that there were four guitars that no one in either group had used as well as a huge drum set. Ward you would have been amazed. Michael said they were going to use all of them. Both Ronnie's and Michael's wives were there as well as Michael's boys. They called someone up to play one of the guitars and also Michael's oldest son to play one of the guitars. He is really good and looks like a Beetle. Michael pulled up his hair to make sure it was his son. Michael said that he realized that some people don't think drums are very spiritual, but he said these drums were okay because he was going to beat the devil out of them! Then they would be okay. By the time he was done, I'm sure the devil was all beaten out of them! The set included 7 drums plus the base drum and 9 cymbals. He later explained that when he had his mid life crisis he told his wife he either wanted a big drum set or a motorcycle, so he got the drum set. It would take a long time just to move it in and out of a concert and a lot of space to haul around! The other guys were busy changing to various guitars and really having a good time. Every time I see the Booth Brothers, Michael preaches more than he did the time before and what he had to say was really right on Friday night.

At one point Michael said there was a friend of theirs sitting up there in an orange sweater and that he really respects him. He went on to say that he's a Florida Highway Patrolman. Ronnie corrected him and said that he's a Lieutenant with the Patrol. Anyway Ronnie said he really had to respect him because he carries a gun!

The Perry's were also very good. It seems like they just get better and better. Libby really reminds me of Vestal Goodman. Her voice is huge compared to her 4 foot 8 inch body! She's the only original Perry in the group now.

Then Saturday night I went to a Hopper's concert at the Lake Gibson Church of the Nazarene. It is quite like a very traditional Nazarene church. It really reminded me of the Naz in Oskaloosa in the 70's and 80's. They're really looking forward to having Jim Diehl speak here soon. The Hoppers are just an outstanding group. They are similar to the Speers.

Then last night I went back there to hear Ivan Parker. I hadn't heard him before in person and he is even better in person than on the radio. I'll be going there most Saturday and Sunday evenings for concerts. They also have a meal on Saturday night before the concerts part of the time. Sunday night they had sundaes after the concert and I went to that.

I've talked to people from Lakeland, New Brunswick, and Chicago so far. I hadn't seen many non Florida cars until I went to the concerts. I've seen at them Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ontario, North Carolina, Georgia and several others that I don't remember right now. So far I've only seen mine with an Iowa plate on it! In fact the last Iowa plate other than mine that I saw was one of the girls.

On the way here from Port St. Lucie it rained almost all the way and I went through miles and miles of groves on both sides of the road. I also went by two packers. One had probably 20 or 30 semis of oranges sitting there. They were all loaded in bulk instead of in crates, so I assume they were for juice. Today I went by a fruit stand, but it was closed.

At the concerts both nights they were parking cars right on the grass and they were leaving no marks. Friday it had been raining a lot, but they didn't cut in at all. I asked the parking attendant about it Saturday night and he said they park on the grass all the time and never have a problem. The grass is different here than we have too. He said they mow it every week in the summer and every other week in the winter.

It is cold here for Florida, but that's okay. It's still better than Iowa weather. This week it's supposed to be in the 30's at night and 50's in the daytime. The people from here think it's terrible, but they say it won't last long. I'm not sure that next week will be much better though the way the forecast sounds.

Oh, yes, the big news. This morning about 8:30 we had a fire alarm. I put on my shoes and winter coat and grabbed my purse and opened my door. The man across the hall was standing there and we didn't smell smoke but both thought it would be better to have the alarm for no reason than to have a fire and no alarm. It turned out that one of the room heaters was smoking and that sets off all the alarms. We didn't have to go outside. At least this time I wouldn't have shared my van with 7 kids. I was about to take a shower when it happened, so I decided to wait a while to make sure there wouldn't be another alarm and there wasn't.

This is sort of tough place to be now. I'm just across the interstate from a Cracker Barrell and I've discovered that I can eat half of one of their meals and bring the rest home for the next day. That also works at IHOP. It makes meals pretty cheap.

I had to go to Wal-Mart today and I don't know if I'll ever complain about the one in Oskaloosa again or not. This one was monstrous and of course the things I needed were in opposite corners of the store. This store had no greeters, there weren't many carts, and they were dirty and rusty. I got three oranges and they didn't have bags for them, so they just had to roll around in my cart. I couldn't even open the kiddie seat because it was so rusty.

I've probably rambled enough, so have a nice day, and if you're on the tundra, I'm sorry!