ANOTHER REASON TO CELEBRATE

Thursday, August 30 - While Carrie was visiting, it was her birthday. She didn't want any cake or ice cream. What did she want…some sort of flavored beer.

Marsha got creative and turned that ordinary bottle of beer into a birthday celebration.

Marsha made Carrie a tray out of pine needles. Carrie was really excited.

"There is a sucker born every minute" is how the saying goes. Well, guess who the sucker was this time…MARSHA. While we were visiting our friends, Jeri and Terry, we ran across a guy selling the "smallest" kites in THE ENTIRE WORLD. Marsha watched this guy fly his kites and thought they were pretty cool. Only $2/each…what bargain. She picked out two and presented them to the girls.  Marsha yelled, "Go on, fly them, they really work!" The wind was blowing just enough to get those little kites up in the air. Guess she is not such a sucker after all.

It was another wonderful celebration, and it was only noon.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

OFF TO THE MICHIGAN UPPER PENINSULA

Tuesday, August 28 – Prior to full-timing, Paul would go to Michigan's Upper Peninsula fishing with the guys several times a year. He did this for over 30 years.

Benny's boat for this year's trip

The guys were heading fishing this past week, and Paul decided to join them. One of the guys owns a fishing cabin on Lake Huron and another of the friends is towing his boat.

Cabin on Lake Huron.

Paul and the guys fished for five days and had some good days on the lake and some days with only one or two fish pulled-in. Regardless, it was a great time with old friends.

Bill, Benny, Paul, Dennis

The crew did fish in a tournament while in Michigan and guess what.....WON the category for the largest Lake Trout (14.6 pounds). They not only were very proud of the accomplishment, but it came with a cash prize of $500.00.

One of the winners.

Another biggie.


Someone has to clean these babies.

Going to be some good eaten' from this one.

Paul brought about 10 lbs. of fish home. We are going to have one nice big fish fry real soon.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

FAMILY FUN TIME

Sunday, August 26 – Since we arrived in Canton, Ohio, five weeks ago, we have done a ton of visiting with family and friends and just having a great time. Here are some photos that tell part of the story.

Marsha and Kelly purchased some magnetic nail polish at the Hartville Flea Market. When Carrie arrived they had a girl bonding party.

Did the magnetic nail polish work? You be the judge.

After the wine tasting party, we had an intense game of bocce.

Just can't beat the form of these players.

Every point counts!

Just two of the many, many fun-filled days we have had since returning to Ohio…more to come next time.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

WINE-TASTING PARTY FAMILY SYTLE

Tuesday, August 21 – We would first like to send a HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to our daughter, Carrie. She is in Baton Rouge finishing up her LAST week on the road. After 2+ years of traveling for Exxon, she will be back in Houston with a new position, Refinery Earnings Analyst, Baytown Refinery. What that title means, we have no idea. She is a chemical engineer working her way up the corporate ladder. Happy Birthday and Good Luck in your new position.

Now on to some WINE TASTING. During our Pacific Northwest tour this past spring and summer, Marsha got the bright idea to purchase different wines from the different states and throw a wine-tasting party when we returned to Ohio. This past Saturday was the big day. We purchased wine in California, Oregon, Washington, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Now there are tons of websites entitled, "How to Host a Wine-Tasting Party," but Marsha, Carrie and Kelly had their own idea of how they would host this party.

Since we don't have the space for this event, Marsha asked her brother, Rick, if they could have it at his house. Next, everyone that was invited was also asked to bring a bottle of their favorite wine.  "With 12 bottles of wine already, why would they need more?" Paul thought but was smart enough not to ask out loud. He still doesn't know the answer.

Moving along, each person brought an appetizer to share. Now there was some good eat in's on that table. Everything from crab cakes to water chestnut bacon wraps to stuffed mushrooms to meatballs. We ate good!

The girls, (Marsha, Kelly, Carrie) placed the wines with the state sign around the table.

The silver driver's mask is the ice bucket.

Each person was given two shot glasses…one for the red wine; one for white. The girls then explained how this wine tasting thing was going to happen.

1. Kelly would open each wine starting with California.



2. Marsha introduced each wine and where it was purchased.

Of course she had to throw in a few personal comments every now and again.

3. Dave, Kelly's boyfriend, then read the label telling what type of wine it was and what was in it, such as peaches, apples, lemons, etc.

He was also in charge of pouring the wine. He wore a little pumpkin pot holder to catch any of the drips.

Dave pouring wine for Rickie.

Kelly making sure she gets her fair share. We have no idea what those beer cans are doing on the table or who they belong to.

4. Before each taste, one person had to make a toast. When it was dad's turn, this is what his toast was, "I am 84 years old, and this is the very first wine-tasting party I have ever been to. I like it."

If you look closely in the picture above, everyone else has a shot glass except for dad. He has a WINE glass. He wanted to be sure he got a good big taste…hehe.

By the way, after all the tasting was completed, there were colored wine glasses in the middle of the table available for bigger tastes. Everyone got to keep the wine glass as a "Thank You" for participating gift. Marsha's idea not Paul's.

5. Once the toast was made and everyone tasted the wine, we had to vote where the wine ranked compared to the other wines. We used a very scientific way of deciding the order…show of hands.

Getting ready to vote. Even Lucky the dog wanted a say in the matter.

Dave brought two Ohio wines that his dad makes. They were delicious.

Dave TRYING to explain what is in his dad's homemade wine.

Now for the winner…drum roll, please…..
#1 was from Washington…TWO VINE. This wine was the cheapest and only had 11 1/2" alcohol.

This is how we ranked them. #1 is to the far left.

South Dakota took three out of the four last place finishes…not so good! Everyone's comment was…We didn't even know South Dakota made wine.

All the food and most of the wine was gone at the end of the night. We had a wonderful time tasting all the different wines.

We want to say "Thank You" to all those who left a comment or sent an email wishing us good luck with our new house purchase. We had the insect inspection on Monday…all is great there. If all goes well, we will move in on or before Sept. 21. Shortly after that we will be headed for Georgia to visit Paul's brother.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING!

Friday, August 17 - Well, we've gone and done it! We bought a house.

When we began full-timing, we committed to living on the road for at least two years. Well, it's been three years, and we've decided to become “Part-Timers.” We don't intend to stop traveling. We still have a daughter in Houston, TX, we plan on seeing frequently, and we have places we want to see and people we want to visit all over the country. We just felt the time was right to move in another direction. Time to slow waaaaay down!

Backyard is nice a large.

Our plan is to sell our Tiffin Phaeton and downsize to a trailer in the near future. We'll use the trailer to escape the cold Ohio winters and travel about six months a year. If anyone is looking for a wonderful 2005 Tiffin Phaeton diesel pusher, that has served us well over the past three years, we have just the vehicle for you and you certainly won't be disappointed.

We both had some reservations about buying a house, but felt the time was right to slow down and give “Part-Timing” a try. With interest rates at all-time lows, and it being a buyer's market, it wasn't a hard decision to make. We both knew we wouldn't be full-time RV'ers for ever and thought we would start the process of home shopping. Little did we know we would find a well-priced house so quickly.

A scary moment when we signed the contract. Yes, that wallpaper will come off…and fast!

Being “part-timers” or “snowbirds” seems like a comfortable compromise for us. We can spend some summer months in the Canton, Ohio, area with our daughter, Kelly, family and friends, and then escape the snow in the winter months to visit our other daughter, Carrie, in Houston. Mix in some trips to places around the country we still want to see and we should be happy!

So another lifestyle change has begun. Wish us luck!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

ANCHORS AWAY!

Sunday, August 12 – We spent today on a sailboat! Our first ever sailboat adventure.

Our daughter, Kelly, and her boyfriend, Dave spend many summer weekends on the sailboat that Dave's parents own on nearby Atwood Lake. They invited us to spend today with them on their boat.

Our First Mate, Jackie, took us out to sea with Captain, Dave, looking on.

We began our day with a short tour of the Atwood Lake Yacht Club. What an impressive place. They have a swimming pool, restaurant, and tavern. They even brew their own beer in their micro-brewery.

We then walked down to the docks to see the sailboats and meet up with Dave's parents – Dave Sr. and Jackie. They have a beautiful 30 foot sailboat. We don't know a thing about sailboats, but we sure thought it was a pretty nice boat.

Take special note of the sign men.

The DiCato's sailboat named the Unless. (Long story on the name.)

The Club was having a race this afternoon, but we were not involved. This was just a pleasure trip.

We used the motor to move out of the dock area and into the main lake. Then it was time to set the sails and catch the wind. How cool.

Everyone chips in to make a very smooth ride.

We got moving pretty fast and even leaned the boat into the wind. Pretty interesting. Marsha wanted nothing to do with the boat tipping – she got down on the floor (or is that the deck....LOL)

After several hours on the lake, we headed back to the docks. The yacht race was ending, so we decided to head for the Clubhouse and enjoy the captains' bragging about their boats and consume a few beverages with the crews.

The lake is lovely.

Dave and Kelly

Thanks Dave and Jackie. It was a great day on the lake, and we sure enjoyed our first sailboat experience. Now if we could just sell our motor home, we could sail the Great Lakes in our new sailboat...ha ha!

Our sign for the day.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

CLEAN-UP OLD HEADLIGHTS & VISIT GOOD FRIENDS

Wednesday, August 8 – Many of you may remember that Paul polished the motor home headlights several years ago when they became cloudy.

Well, they have clouded up again so Paul used the 3M Headlight Kit he purchase at Harbor Freight, two year ago, to re-polish the headlights.

A little masking tape to prevent an accidental scratching on the nearby paint.

The Kit consists of a sanding disc with interchangeable Velcro-backed sandpaper. You begin by using a 500 grit disc to sand away most of the clouding.

It's a little scary when you sand the entire headlight to an opaque finish.

Next you use progressively finer discs (800 grit and 1200 grit) to smooth away the plastic headlight covering. Once that is complete, you finish up by using a foam pad with rubbing compound to re-establish a shine.

A little water helps with the final buffing.

When the lens cover is shining “like new” it's a good idea to give it a coat of wax to protect it as long as possible from future clouding. It seems like a process that needs repeating every couple of years.

It's a pretty simple process and the kit is relatively inexpensive. So if your headlights are showing their age, give the 3M Kit a try. Paul thinks you'll be happy with the results.

JUST LIKE NEW!!

Besides taking care of the motorhome, we have been visiting with family and friends. We visited with a former teacher and good friend, Red, at his home. Red has a huge garden that he give tender-loving care to daily.

There will be NO weeds in my garden…Red's motto.

He shared a few zucchini with us and in return Marsha gave him a loaf of her delicious Zucchini Bread.

Red standing by his tower of pole beans.

We spent a couple of hours talking and laughing about old and new times.

One evening we met with our good friends, Stephanie and John. We have been friends with them since our daughter, Kelly, and their daughter, Julie, were in middle school together. The two girls played softball and soccer together in high school and on traveling teams during middle school and high school. We met for dinner and again talked the night away.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!