Archive forOctober, 2007

A cold appears to be “mandatory”

It seems that every time we come down to Florida, I catch a cold. Usually it’s early in our stay and I’ve about decided that my symptoms are actually allergy-related and not a cold, but this time it’s different. I was feeling perky until late Saturday. This time there’s no doubt that it’s a cold and I even know how I caught it. Mom and four or five of the other residents in her unit have had bad chest colds. Mom was one of the last ones to develop the symptoms, but about a week ago, she got it bad. Her cough is awful. Of course, I continued to visit her so I shouldn’t have been surprised that I now have a/her cold.

Since Sunday, I’ve been taking Zicam (which is that new stuff claims that you’ll get over your cold faster). It also supposedly lessens the severity. So far, it’s main side effect is that I haven’t been able to sleep my normal seven to eight hours. Last night I got three hours sleep (awake until 4:00 a.m.!!)

As I write this, we’re headed back to Michigan. We left the condo about 8:40 a.m. It’s now a little after 10:00 a.m. Our next stop will be just across the Georgia border where we’ll stop for gas and a quick lunch. Tonight’s destination is Locust Grove, GA.

Our trip was pleasant. Weather was wonderful. Pool time was grand. I’ll be ready to return in late December.

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Image of “old folks”

Yes, King’s Point has senior citizens, which most would think of as “old folks.” But somehow my impression of senior citizens has changed as a result of the life we’re experiencing here in Sun City Center, Florida.

For example, would you think of this lady as a “great grandmother”? Well, she is.

My previous impressions of a Florida “retirement community” definitely been altered. What we have here are fun folks, living life to the fullest. It’s like the aging process has slowed down.

That photo was taken at Thursday’s Halloween party. Tonight we’re going to another one.

Last night it was a “Michigan Club” wine and cheese party.

We just may be too busy to go home. I need to start packing so we’ll be able to pile in the car on Tuesday and head north. At least the weather has been less enticing because it’s been cooler and we’ve had some rain.

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Winding down

We’re wrapping up this visit. We leave a week from tomorrow for Michigan. Between now and then, we’ll try to soak up all the wonderful weather because when we get back here after Christmas it’ll probably be cool. For the next week, we will be at the pool whenever possible.

Friday we took a bus trip down to Cape Coral to attend an Oktoberfest. It was hot and the day was too long.

This week our plans are to attend a family night at Mom’s facility, go to the music club on Wednesday afternoon, attend Rockin’ Rondevous on Thursday, a Michigan Club wine and cheese party on Friday, and a Halloween party on Saturday. We’ll probably go out to dinner a couple times and, of course, I’ll try to be with Mom as much as possible. At least we know it won’t be long before December 30th when we’ll be back.

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Less than three weeks left and BUSY!

We have less than three weeks left before we’ll be heading back to Michigan for the holidays. Between now and our departure date our calendar is really filling up. We have Rockin’ Rondevous every Thursday; a benefit concert Friday the 12th (tomorrow night); a dinner at the Elks Club Saturday the 13th; a dance Sunday the 14th in the afternoon plus birthday party Sunday evening (Martie’s); a swing dance lesson next Monday; a music club meeting every Wednesday at 1:00; a bus trip to Coral Gables for Oktoberfest on Friday the 19th; and Halloween parties the 25th and 27th. We also like to go out for spaghetti at the Elks Club in Ruskin on Wednesdays.

Between all those activities we need to get our music all brushed up for our performance on November 3rd, at Warmbier Farms, right after we get back home.

We’ve discovered two music groups: the Country Music Club and a banjo club called the Polk County Plunkers. We haven’t attended meetings for either group, although John has visited with the leader of the banjo club. It should be fun to go next Wednesday.

The weather is cooling down from the 90’s to the 80’s so getting to the pool won’t be quite so enticing.

Life doesn’t get any better than this!

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Toe Trouble

John handed me a folding chair that was stored in the condo attic. I grabbed it and stepped forward only to ram my middle toe (left foot) into the base of the attic stairway. When I looked down my toe was no longer pointing forward but instead was at right angles to my foot pointing leftward. I “rearranged it back into place” as it cracked and pained. It was either dislocated or broken. It’s now a beautiful burgundy shade and twice it’s normal size.

Today, we were scheduled to take a swing dance class. Sounded like a good idea when we signed up. But dancing with a sore toe is tough.

It’s painful, but I should admit that I’m also “milking it.” It looks so horrid and uncomfortable that I don’t hesitate to point it out to get the maximum in ohhhhs… and “you poor thing” comments.

We had a great time, then to the pool for a few hours of perfection in the pool. It was incredibly wonderful weather. It couldn’t have been nicer. Breezy but warm. We were in the pool and out and either place, we were really comfortable.

Here in King’s Point folks frequently say, “Isn’t this a tough life?” “What did I do to deserve this?” It just doesn’t get any better than this!” (I heard comments similar to those at least four times today.) They’re right. This is paradise. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been (even counting Hawaii, the Bahamas, and Rio de Janeiro). I prefer King’s Point.

The folks are fun. We have friends, although they’re not crowding us. We have lots of activities which we can participate in or ignore. We have a climate that’s been incredible (high 80’s with low humidity). Beautiful blue skies. Warm pool water. Someone said they miss the ocean, but personally I prefer a clean pool. The ocean/bay is only about 10 miles away, but we’re content here.

We’ll head home in about three weeks. I won’t be able to wait to get back.

It’s a great life, even with toe trouble.

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Storms galore!

Willow, our dog, has never been afraid of storms. She ignores them, unlike other dogs I’ve had. (My childhood dog, a dalmation, used to try to squeeze behind the toilet bowl, under the tank.) Willow, takes storms in stride. But here in Florida, the thunderstorms are really something. We’ve had several. Last night was the loudest. It crashed and boomed for a couple hours. Things are a little soggy. Even Willow has wanted to be held when the thunder rolls. The storms we’ve experienced have been really severe.

Actually they’ve had a lot of rain this week (about 6″). Ditches are filled, puddles are deep.

The other day, we took our golf cart and headed to Walmart. It was a pleasant, cloudy late afternoon. We parked at Publix, which is as far as you can legally drive your cart. Walmart is just across the highway. Carts can’t legally cross the highway but we walked, so we were ok. It’s a little distance, but it was nice out and we didn’t mind. John even thought to bring along a little wheeled shopping cart so we could haul our purchases back to the golf cart. But while we were shopping, it started to rain. We were ready to head back at about 4:40. As I waited by the door for the shower to let up, a pleasant gentleman headed out in the direction of the Publix parking lot. He said he’d done the same as us… walked over. He commented that he had a towel to wipe off the seats and he’d be fine. He asked if we had “sides” and I said, yes, but they weren’t rolled down.

When we finally dashed for the cart, the curtains were down and the seat had been dried off. That’s the kind of folks we meet all the time down here.

Today a gentleman at Taco Bell held the door for us. I thanked him but paused to let his wife go ahead of us. We were all trying to be polite. It was funny.. “you go first, no you, no you.” It sure isn’t this way most places, but Sun City Center seems to have an over-abundance of nice folks.

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Bugs are Back..

I was concerned, as we were coming down here, that we’d run into love bugs, but they weren’t at the Florida-Georgia border, as I’d expected. Instead they were waiting for us here in Sun City Center. They’ve been getting worse.

I’ve previously described love bugs. They have Love Bugs
no natural enemies except for cars. They fly around “joined” together with the female pulling the male. Unlike flies, they’re easy to swat. That can be a blessing or curse, because when you’re sitting by the pool, you end up with squashed bug bodies around you and stuck to your towels, etc.

They don’t bite, they don’t buzz. But they are soooo plentiful. Someone said, they also contribute to the local economy by providing car washes with extra business.

I’ve read that there are two hatchings each year: May and September. Supposedly they only last a couple of weeks, but it’s early October and they were worse yesterday than in September. It feels like they’re here to stay.

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