2/3/17 Friday

Today was the last day of our work week.  We got to work with both Doug and Glenn today.  The morning started out a bit slowly, but picked up at about 10 o'clock.  Again, I ran the register, but also priced glassware, which is located up front so I could keep an eye on the register.  Dave and crew spent the morning putting new donated items out on the floor.  Many things get bought very shortly after being put on the floor.  Dave moved a number of new medicine cabinets onto the floor and I sold 3 of them right away.  We came home for lunch and both decided to put our feet up for awhile as we were both tired.  We went for a walk before dinner.  It was a beautiful warm day again today.  I think we will walk on the beach tomorrow.  The pictures today are from the ReStore and from our walk: a flock of ibis, an anhinga drying his wings, and a red squirrel.

2/2/17 Thursday

We left a bit earlier for work this morning and that was a good thing as we encountered much less traffic.  We worked with Glenn as the manager today and it was really busy.  Dave and the crew unloaded 2 truckloads of furniture and tile before noon so they were very busy finding places to put everything.  I ran the register again, but also tested a cartful of small electronics to make sure they were in working order in between customers.  We were both busy so the time really flew.  We came home and had a light lunch and relaxed a bit before heading out again.  Our friends Lana and John are down here visiting with Lana's daughter Kelly and we all met at Bern's to celebrate Lana's birthday.  Bern's is an amazing steakhouse that has been in business for 60 years.  They have their own ranch and farm and have a huge wine cellar.  All of the beef is aged so is amazing tender.  We all had wonderful meals - French onion soup, salad, filet mignon, baked potato, veggies, and onion straws.  We then took a tour of the kitchens and wine cellar.  Our waiter was telling us that there is a grueling training period to become a waiter - over two years - and only 20% of those who start make the final cut.  Our waiter had been there 22 years.  After the tour, we went upstairs to the dessert room.  We sat in a private room shaped like a very large wine barrel.  I took pictures of the fanciest ones: chocolate mousse and a cake called, chocolate-chocolate-chocolate.  Everything was delicious, but we had big doggie bags for both dinner and dessert.  We all had a lovely time and it was a great way to celebrate a birthday and we had the added pleasure of seeing Kelly again.  Now we are so full, we will have to wait quite a while before going to bed.  By the way, the traffic is horrendous here:  Bern's is in Tampa and it took us an hour and forty minutes to get there, but only 45 minutes to get home.  It is a good thing we left extra early or we never would have made it on time!

2/1/17 Wednesday

Lasr night before dinner we decided to go for a walk before dinner.  Just a block away is Seminole Lake.  We had a lovely walk and chatted with a few people sitting on benches.  There were quite a few waterfowl - mostly ibis (see pix) and some coots.  Apparently, there are also gators and otters, but we did not see any.

We woke up this morning and got ready for our first day of work.  As you can see by the photo I took of the TV weather this morning, the weather is fairly consistent - we have no complaints.  Mike was the person in charge this morning.  I told him I was able to run the cash register and he was happy as that left him free to work on other projects.  Dave helped customers and replaced stock as it came in the back door.  It was fairly busy today, which was good as the time flew by.  We are working from 8:30 to 1 five days a week.  When we finished today, we stopped for a salad (Dave had a sandwich) at Chick-fil-A and then went to the Florida Botanical Garden.  The pix of an American egret and water lily are from the garden.  We walk around and found Heritage Village next door.  It is a collection of older houses, stores, etc. from the area.  One of the homes featured quilts, embroidery, weaving, and baskets.  The rest of today's photos are from this house.  We stopped at Target on the way back and bought a mattress topper for the bed - it is a bit hard - I hope it helps.  We came back and sat by the pool for a while reading before dinner.  It was chilly (for here) this morning, but was in the high 70's when we finished at the ReStore.  It was a lovely afternoon and we really enjoyed our walk.

1/31/17 Tuesday - Arrival

We took our time this morning at breakfast and got on the road a bit later than usual so as to not get in the commuter traffic on its way to Tampa.  We arrived at 102nd Avenue and could not find the house so I called our host and found that we were supposed to be on 102nd Street North.  It wasn't too awfully far away so we arrived about 10:30.  Our hosts are very nice and we are staying in their private backyard with a private entrance.  Our home for the next month is an RV with two lovely seating areas, a grill, a covered area with a washer and dryer and a pool right outside the door.  Everything is quite miniature inside so we will not be shopping for groceries once a week, but more often.  We emptied our suitcases, but had to put them back in the trunk of the car as there is nowhere to store them inside.  We had a light lunch of nuts and carrots and then made our way to the Habitat ReStore to say that we had arrived.  The good news is that it is only 6.7 miles to the ReStore from here, but the bad news is that Doug, the manager, was in a meeting so we didn't get to see him.  We left a message that we would start work tomorrow and made our way "home".  On the way, we stopped at a Publix supermarket for some supplies.  We picked up a roasted chicken and veggies for tonight.  Unfortunately, the RV has everything except an oven so we will have to make do without.  The temperature was in the 40's this morning when we left Ocala and it is now 75 - yeah!  We will relax for a while before dinner.  I am putting on some pix of our new place.  As you can see in the first photo, the pool is just steps from the door.

1/30/17 On the Road, Again

Last night's dinner was a trip!  We ate at the Highway Diner, which was an old-fashioned steel diner with red plastic booths - right out of the 1950's.  Dinner was good, but way too much to finish.  We drove across the street and filled up the car.  So far the most common gas price has been $2.19.

Well, today was a saner day.  We started out at 7:15 after a good night's sleep and made our way south along I-95.  Around noontime, we stopped at Colleton State Park in South Carolina - just 3 miles off the highway - for a lovely walk and a light lunch of crackers, nuts, and raw carrots that we had brought with us.  We both felt that we had eaten too much yesterday and a light lunch was exactly what we needed.  The walk around the park was lovely.  We walked the cypress swamp nature trail until we reached an area that was flooded.  Along the way, we saw live oaks, Loblolly pines, wax myrtle, magnolia, and tulip trees.  Down by the river, there were many cypress trees, some dripping with Spanish moss, growing in the water.  It was a lovely and relaxing stop.

We got back on the highway and did not stop until we got the the Florida Welcome Center, where we enjoyed our free cup of fresh orange juice.  Outside was a dolphin statue, similar to our whale statues.  This was was covered in musical symbols and named Satchmo.  From there we cut over to Route 301 south.  This is a lovely road that runs past many large horse farms, but it is a bit annoying as the speed drops from 65 to 55 to 45 to 35 every time you approach a small town.  I think we will take another route when we return home at the end of February.  We stopped for the night in Ocala and were happy to be able to walk to dinner - Cracker Barrel this time, but we do enjoy walking to dinner after being in the car all day.  We figure the average age in the restaurant was 75 and that included the table of young people with a baby!  Dinner was fine and we will watch a bit of TV before bed tonight.  Only 581 miles today, but the temperature is a balmy 62 degrees!

1/29/17 Sunday - On the Road

Well, despite our intentions to take our time this morning, we woke up at 3:45 and were on the road at 4:40 AM.  It was 31 degrees and cloudy.  After a few wrong turns in New Jersey (not intentional), we stopped for breakfast along the Turnpike.  We decided not to go the whole way on I-95 so took the slower, but more scenic route down the DelMarva peninsula before cutting back to the beltway below D.C.  We stopped for a quick bite just above Richmond and arrived in Rocky Mount, NC about 4:30.  We have just come back from taking a walk down some small side roads ending at a hospital complex and will go to a local diner for dinner in a bit.  We wanted to walk to the diner as it is just a mile, but there are no sidewalks here and it will be dark when we return.  It is 51 and sunny here.  Our entertainment (when the traffic wasn't crazy) was listening to an audio recording of The Pillars of the Earth.  What a great story - really makes the time go by.  We are taking our time going down as we are not expected at our accommodations in Largo, FL until Tuesday.

2017 volunteering in Florida

We will be leaving on Sunday for a volunteer job in Florida.  We will be staying in Largo and have a very short commute to work.  Although the weather here has been rather mild so far, we are looking forward to walks in shirt sleeves and shorts on the beach.  I am uploading a picture to make sure things will work smoothly for us.  This is a new laptop and hopefully the problems with putting pictures on will be a thing of the past.  I put a picture of Denali here to remind us of what snow looks like while we are in Florida!