Maybe I'm Just Stupid

Maybe it’s me and I just don’t get it, I’m still amazed that the stores now put out their Halloween stuff right after the Fourth of July and Christmas stuff the day school starts in the fall. But last February our little electric heater died while we were in central Georgia, no problem I’ll just run down to the big box store and buy a new one, wrong. Every store I went to was sold out and when I asked them when they would be getting more in they all told me that they were done for the season, it snowed two days later but the season was over. We tried every place we could think of as we headed north and it took about three weeks before a guy at a Home Depot went in the back room and opened up a crate that was scheduled to be shipped back to the warehouse and dug one out for us. We arrived in Michigan in mid April and continued to use the heater into early May.

So a few weeks ago I started working inside the shed at our lot (converting it into a bunkhouse for the grand kids & a MAN cave for me), since the sheds all have to be painted dark brown and are not allowed to have windows I figured that I would get the air conditioner this year and work in comfort. Wrong again! It’s the first week of August, it’s in the mid 90’s and the humidity is pushing about 95 and guess what, nobody has any air conditioners because the season is over for the year. My calendar most really be messed up because the other day when I was re- shingling the shed I had to drink about two gallons of water because of the heat. So the good news this week is that it only took me four stores to find a fan to use until January when the air conditioners start showing up in the stores again.

Meanwhile Cathy and I started getting things ready so we can head towards the southwest in a few weeks when it dawned on me, the season is probably already over so we might as well just sit here and save on gas.

Just another July

Another July bites the dust, well I guess I should say that it bakes the mud, since it has either been storming or 90 degrees everyday this month and most days we had both which of course pushes the humidity up near the hundred mark.

Owning this lot and staying in the same park for the summer is taking it toll on us, somewhere along the line we got old and our bodies have decided to revolt against all the yard work that we're doing.












Cathy has got the garden looking pretty good for what she has to work with, every time she tries to plant something she hits a root from the tree that was removed last fall and has to dig in another spot until she hits an open area.









With a lot of help from my Chiropractor I finally finished the lean-to on the back of the shed the other day and got most of the tools and other junk fit into it. How come every time you stop traveling and stay in a park for a month or so would end up with tons of extra stuff that has no place to go.


We did pet sit for the kids when they went up north for a week during the 4th of July, Don's (SIL) side of the family (Aunt ,Uncle and cousins) have been doing a reunion every 4th for about the last 30 years and Don and Suz have been going for about the last 15 years. So while they are all up north right on the Lake Huron shoreline enjoying the beach, water, sun, BBQ's, parades and much much more, Cathy and I are watching the new little puppy, the old, set in his ways and doesn't want another dog around, cat, plus two chinchillas, which by this winter will be large enough to rename Left Glove & Right Glove.

The puppy did really good at being house trained she only had a couple of accidents during the week, she goes and stands by the back door when she needs to go out but she doesn't make any noise so unless you happen to walk by and see her you don't know. Her biggest accident was thinking that after 3 weeks she was tough enough to take on the cat. She chased him down the hall and cornered him in the bathroom, the next thing we heard was a very loud yipe and two sets of paws running back down the hall. They came into the kitchen, cat chasing the dog, Samantha raced around Cathy who was standing there and put her head between Cathy's legs and started barking at the cat as if she was saying,”You think you're big enough to take on both of us”.

We ended up house sitting again last weekend when they did a cross state trip for the weekend and now that they are done running around the state we're going to be having one of the grand kids out here for the next few weeks, we change off every 4 or 5 days depending on baseball and volleyball camp schedules

We had a two hour down pour this after noon so I took over the kitchen and made my should be world famous cheese spread.

Cheddar Crock Cheese Spread
1 1/2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese (use sharp)
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 oz. cream cheese
Couple dashes of hot sauce (to taste)
1/4 c. margarine
1/3 c. milk

Bring Cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and margarine to room temperature.
Beat cheeses and margarine in small bowl with an electric mixer( I use a food processor), you want this as smooth as you can get it)
Add milk, Mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce,
Beat till smooth.
Refrigerate at least 6 hours or until serving time. Makes about 2 cups.

This is an excellent spread and makes a great base to add anything else that you might like, onion, garlic, roasted red pepper, bacon, pepperoni or whatever else you might think of.

If you like Blue Cheese after it is mixed smooth add about 3-4 ozs of Blue Cheese, just pulse it a few times so that it doesn't break up to much.

Maybe next week I'll share my “Absolutely the Worlds Best Pizza Dough” recipe, which is also the easiest one to make that I've ever found.

Return of the GATORS

Gee! Bet you can't guess where we went back to today.
The Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Athens, Michigan. We switched grand kids the other day and Rachel wanted to see the gators so we headed back over there. Being a weekday it wasn't as crowded as it was Saturday, as a matter of fact we were the only ones there today. They were doing so research and moving some of the gators from one pond to another, they have three different ponds depending on the size of the gator and once they get to big for the pond they are in they get moved up to be with other gators more there own size, this is to prevent them from hurting each other.

They were right in the middle of moving one that was a little short of being 4 foot long and decided that Rachel should help them, now Rachel is just a tad over 5 ft and the gator was just a tad under 4 ft but when it comes to animals she knows no fear, as you can see in the following pictures.



This place is really amazing for both the kids and adults, as I said earlier we learned more about gators then we could imagine. We have a new respect for the animal but a lot less fear, we now know some of there habits and what to do when you encounter one in the wild. Just call them by named and when they come to you reward them with Purina Gator treat.

Yes Purina really does make Gator treats.






She didn't have any problem at all in handling this guy and the curator was very impressed with how well she did and how fast she caught on.












A little contest to see who had the biggest smile.












A two for one gator girl.

If you are ever in the area with or without kids this place is well worth the 1 1/2 to 2 hours to visit. I know that we'll be back there again before summers over.


Wally, Rachel & Alphabet Soup.