Travel Day to Blanton Creek Park

Tuesday Judy and I woke up at 6:00 AM to another windy and rainy day.  Georgia needs the rain so I am not complaining.  I must say, I was hoping it would not be raining when we went to Scenic Mountain RV park to hitch-up the Cardinal.

We left our house at 8:30 and stopped at the Waffle House in Milledgeville for a breakfast. Judy and I arrived at the Fiver at 9:15. I went to the office to let Glenn, the care taker manager for the park know that I was taking the Cardinal. The heavy rain had stopped but there was a thick mist in the air. Judy and I went through our “hitch-up check list and were pulling off thirty minutes later.

A little foggy

 

We got to Blanton Creek Park 140 miles away about 3:30 PM. The trip was routine except for some patches of fog. We were unhitched and set-up by 4:00 PM. We did go take a look at the office to see the new carpet. Oh, I forgot to mention that our boss called while we were driving to the park to inform us that the water was off at the park because of a dump station problem, that they hoped to have corrected by Friday. I did not put any water in the freshwater tank as I was told at the meeting that the water was on. Drinking water will not be a problem because we always bring bottled water, showers and other water essential activities may be. I sure hope this problem is short lived!
We went to Wal-Mart in Valley, AL and picked up a few item – $214.00 worth. Once we returned, Judy put everything away and we called it a  day. I will be doing a blog entry on the park in the next few days.

Arriving at Blanton Creek Park, I hope my keys work!

Driving into the park

Set Up but not settled in.

That is all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.
Next Blog: Friday

Orientation Day

It is almost time for Blanton Creek Park on Lake Harding to open as well as the other GA Power parks scattered around Georgia. GA Power operates six parks with camping facilities, all on major lakes.  If you find yourself transiting through GA stop by and spend a few days with us or one of the other parks.

This is our second orientation day and it was much like last years’. The meeting is held at the GA Power Wallace Dam Complex near where Judy and I live so we did not have to drive but about thirty miles.  It is the only time the park host/gate attendants get to meet with each other. We do sometimes call the other parks to see how they handle situations that aren’t covered in the operations handbook so we can at least put a face with a name. All of us are independent contractors, not employees of GA Power.  The main focus of the meeting other than customer service were the changes to the reservation program software. The rep from the “IT” dept. used a power point presentation to illustrate the changes. Judy and I both thought the changes would be easy to implement.

Meet and Greet

Mike (L) our GA Power Boss and Char and Ed our park co-host

After the meeting we met with Mike (our GA Power boss) and Char and Ed our co-host at the park to go over the park schedule.  One couple works each week then the other couple works the next week. Judy and I will be opening the park this year on March 01. We will be taking the RV up Tue and working in the office Wed and Thur. getting ready for Friday’s opening.  We will mostly be making sure the phones and computer system are up and running. I’ll let you know how that goes next week.

UPDATES
1. Judy is doing well after her out-patient procedure
2. Four Purple Martins have returned so far.

Welcome to new followers Pam and Vic. That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.
Next Blog: Wed evening

Money Money Money

The Maddox's have been busy since the last post. We have also been taking a lot of $$ hits. Oh well, it is only money.

Judy and I are trying to get as many dental and medical appointments taken care of before we go to our workamper job next tue.  We  had two dental appointments for cleaning and dental repair work for both of us. Cost: $1200.00 Judy wins the prize for the largest portion of the cost because she needed a crown. She is not content to stop there. Friday she is going to have an out-patient  "blue light"(Photo Dynamic Therapy) treatment at the dermatologist. Cost: $350.00, but Tricare will cover most of it. I will be getting it done at a later date. It is a treatment for precancerous skin cells.

Tue we went to see our CPA.  The news is not going to be good. We don't have a final figure yet. I am guessing the figure will be A Lot. The main reason for the larger tax liability is an IRA withdrawal to pay my truck off. We did know it was going to impact our tax filing.

A bad omen- As we were waiting for our appt with our CPA her cat leaped up on the hood of our car and then walked up our windshield.  We are not cat people!

An insult to financial injury came in our mail forwarding today.  A  "red light violation".  It was not a complete surprise though. We knew by checking our mail forwarding service that we had mail from the Haines City FL police.  Judy has already been on my case for about a week. She could not wait to look at the letter today so she could bitch some more about it. As soon as I took a look at it I knew it was her doings. It occurred the day we left Adelaide Shores RV Park to return home. The picture snapped by the camera was the rear of the CRV. I was driving the truck pulling the fiver.  It was almost worth the $158.00 fine to hear her apologize to me. She did try blame me for not telling her via the walkie talkie that the light was changing!

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by

A New Dish

Judy and I are still lamenting our decision to leave Florida when we did.  As it turns out we have been home for the coldest weather of GA’s winter. It was only 24’ when I got up a little while ago. It will only reach 44’ today.

Cold and Windy

Judy gets into her cooking mood when she is stuck inside.  I am not complaining because she often goes through her cook books until she finds something that strikes her fancy and I know a new dish is about to be tried.

Saturday being cold and windy was going to be a good cooking day for Judy. She found a new recipe and ran it by me, I commented in my well rehearsed reply, “ sounds good, honey”. That is like the “does this make my butt look big”, questions.  She did a quick survey of the pantry and determined which ingredients she needed and we made a trip to the grocery store to pick up the missing items.

She had decided on a soup recipe since the day was going to be cold. It was a recipe for a  Taco Soup. I was ready for a good soup to enjoy while watching TV. It did not take Judy long to to mix everything up and have it cooking on the stove.  I think from the time she  started until she served it was less than an hour. It was just the thing for a cold inside day. Another soup has now been added to Judy’s cold day repertory.  The only thing I added to it was a cold beer. Try it, you may like it also.

     

That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by

Next Blog: Thurs evening

Run Run Run all Day

I was on the go early in the AM Thur. I was out of the house from 8:30 and got back home after 6:30 PM. I need to take it easy for the rest of the evening after I finish this entry.

Judy was still lounging around in her PJs when I left home for my weekly breakfast meeting with my friend Peter at the Huddle House - think Waffle House. We met around nine and enjoyed a nice bull session with multiple cups of coffee. I had a small breakfast because later in the day I had a lunch date with a couple of my teacher friends who are also retired now.

After meeting with Peter I had a little time between my next meal appointment with my former co-workers around 12:30. So I used the time to visit the barbershop. Jill and Elise arrived just about the time I did at the restaurant. We had a real good Chinese meal and a great time catching up. It was the first time I have been able to join then in 8 months because of my workamper schedule and our time in Florida. I am looking forward to joining them next month.

Jill and Elise are camera shy, so I took a pic of our lunch!

Judy and I decided we were going to shift some of our funds to another bank because the rates are higher, still not much though. She went to her former bank to get the transfer paperwork started then went to Walmart. I joined her after meeting with my friends. Once we finished at Walmart it was back to the bank to sign paper work and pick up the checks.

It took us a half an hour to finish up at our bank and walk out with the checks. We drove back home, in separate cars to put up the groceries. We weren't through though, we still had to go open accounts at the new bank. The drive to the new bank was twenty five miles. At least we were in the same car. It was after 5PM when we completed the transfer. We did have a little DQ treat before heading back home. I am not doing anything tomorrow!

Judy is still the Banker even on the client side of the desk!

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.
Next Blog: Tue.

Nothing Much

Once home our pace is now much slower.  We are pretty much just hanging out and waiting to return to Blanton Creek Park. It is good though to have a little down time. Most of our friends are still working so we don’t get to see them during the week unless we make plans to meet. If we want to see other family members we usually have to wait until the weekend.

I was able to get up with my friend and fellow workcamper Peter for breakfast and a catching up session at the local Waffle House recently. The last time I saw him was when he and his wife Rebecca stopped by to visit with Judy and I while we were “host” at Manatee Springs SP. They were on their way to a wprkamper job selling Christmas Trees in southern Fl. We discussed our up coming jobs and future travel plans. He and Rebecca will soon be headed to CT. for a job.

I stopped by the school and saw many of my teacher friends. I stopped by just after school was dismissed so that I would not interrupt classes. Sadly, all the catch up news was not good. I found out that the Principal’s secretary is out battling breast cancer.

Saturday evening Judy and I met with her brother and sister and their spouses for dinner. We usually drive into Macon to meet with them so they will not have to drive to Milledgeville. We all met at the “Fish and Pig” on Lake Tobesofkee. We had a very nice time.

Judy Striking a pose!

Judy is going to take all of the girls (of course they are all women) as she calls them out Monday evening. I’ll let you know how that goes.

As I am writing this it is pouring down rain. I would say it is going to be a rainy Monday and by the looks of the forecast a rainy Tue and Wed also!

If you would like a chuckle click here.

Welcome to Julie and Tom our newest followers, check out their blog here.

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Next Blog: Thursday

Getting Ready for the PMs

Wed was a very nice day so I decided to get ready for the return of the Purple Martins that reside in my colony. I have been hosting Purple Martins for ten years. They return each year like clock work. I wrote a blog explaining their migration habits and facts last year. I am not going to repeat all the info in this blog, but if you would like to read it for more info click here. I put the gourds away each year after they leave in early July so I have to get them out and put them back up in early Feb. just before they return. The first one last year returned on Feb. 13. They should be back any day now.

I inspect all the gourds(plastic) before I hang them up.

A little pine straw is added as insulation to help the PMs stay warm during cold nights

This is the PM House with 4 gourds attached below, I also have 12 additional gourds on another pole for a total of 21available PM couples.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by.
Next Blog: Monday

Honey Boo Boo and the Super Bowl

RIP Chris Kyle  
- American Hero
-Navy Seal
- 150 Confirmed Kills
-" Devil of Ramadi" to his enemies,
- $20,000.00 bounty on him




Judy and I worked most of Sat. getting the RV settled in storage at Scenic Mountain RV Park.  We keep it there when we are at home base because we don’t have room for it at the house. We had not had any contact with the park since last March, almost a year ago.   

We called the park Friday evening when we were about 50 miles out from the park.  That was just after our episode with the tire emergency. I was surprised when I got a recording informing me the calls were no longer accepted at the number. That did not sound good so I decided to just park the truck and fiver in the parking lot at the Kroger grocery store overnight. It is one of the stores with a large well lighted lot.  Judy and I returned to pick up the truck and fiver at 9:30 Sat. We took it to the RV Park and found out some sad news. The owners Terry and Sandy from Colorado were no longer the owners or on site. Glenn, a caretaker manager informed us that Terry had a fatal heart attack  last Sept. and Sandy had returned to Colorado. Glenn had been contacted by the bank to manage the park until  there is a new owner. I worked out the same deal for our RV storage that we had with the former owners, $45.00 per month.  Judy and I unhitched the fiver in the assigned spot and off-loaded various things. Judy did say she had way too many clothes on the RV.

Sunday we waited for the Super Bowl. We stayed inside mostly and took it easy while waiting. At 5:00 PM we went to the Pickle Barrel, a local sports bar to get something to eat before the game and to just get out of the house a bit.  Once we sat down Judy said “ isn’t that Honey Boo Boo?” Sure enough, there she was with her Mom and the rest of the clan. I guess they came to watch the game at the sports bar.  I told Judy I was not going to take a picture or ask for her autograph.Judy was relieved. I must admit I did do a FB status posting!  To my surprise the group was well behaved and did not do anything to draw attention to themselves. I did see some customers doing double takes though. Just when we Georgians had convinced most that “we aren’t as backwards as we use to be” along comes “Honey Boo Boo”. Hopefully, we will one day be able to overcome her.

Pickle Barrel Sprts Bar, Milledgeville

Honey Boo Boo Clan - pic taken from Web (I could not bring myself to put a clip from YouTube!)

We watched the first few plays and then went home to watch the rest of the game in the comfort of our recliners. I thought it was a good game, too bad about the long delay. 

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Next blog: Thurs.
NOTE: Remember to "Click" on pics to enlarge