Spendin’ Time at the Rancho

Since we got run out of Lake Rosalie last month we been chillaxin’ at home. Barb and Noel came home with us for a couple o’ days, then started headin’ towards home in Wisconsin…Brrrrr. Also spoke with Della & George who were just startin’ out for home in Indiana, they’re plannin’ on takin’ they’re time to avoid the bad weather.

I looked back at my last two posts and everything had gone askew. The text was over the top o’ the pictures and the pictures were over the top o’ the text. I straightened out everything and re-published time after time, after time, only to find it all screwed up every time. I figured maybe it was a problem with my blog writer communicating with the blog posting software. Then I decided it had to do with the position of the photos, so I moved all the pics back to center on the page. That worked but the pages seemed to blah. Finally I realized that recently I had changed the page formatting from left alignment to justified so it would look uniform down the page. So I tried changin’ it back to left alignment and left the photo placement formatting spread all of the page, like it was. Viola! It did the trick and all seems normal again. Boy I was burnin’ up brain cells tryin’ to figure that one out.

I been doin’ a lot of nothin’ lately around here. It seems that I injured myself while we were over to Lake Rosalie. I have fluid on my right elbow that doesn't seem to want to go away. The Doc drained it on Monday but said it would probably return, which it has. I’ve got to go back and see him on the 23rd, maybe he’ll drain it again. The next step is surgery, not if I don’t have to it aint!! Must have been all that heavy duty eatin’ we were doin that overworked my elbow. I’ve been restin, keepin’ it elevated, icein’ it and so far it hasn’t swelled too bad, but I can’t sit here forever doin’ nothin’. This is the first good finger tappin’ I’ve done since I got home and I got lots o’ other things that need doin’.

Our friends Colleen & Wayne from Brantford, Ontario are here for ten days tryin’ to get defrosted or tryin’ to rush the spring, I’m not sure which. We had supper here last night and we went out to Applebee’s tonight. Tommorrow is Easter and they’re taking his mother out for dinner then comin’ by here afterward. We’ll have all the kids & grandkids for the day, for the egg hunt and supper. So A “Happy Easter” to all.

Seems like ole Mother Nature has turned on summer here as the temps are startin’ to reach into the ninety’s and it just the beginnin’ o’ April. It’s way too hot for this early in the year. Our night time temps are dippin’ down to the high 60’s, that’s ridiculous! Got a fella thinkin’ on gettin movin’ north where it’s cooler.

Well I’ll see ya’ another day, maybe on down the road as we’re

Dancin’ on the Wind

A Hot Time at Lake Rosalie Park

Here it is another beautiful day in the 'Sunshine State'. We're supposed to get some rain as a front passes through on Saturday night, so we have decide since we are paid through Saturday we'll leave Sunday.

Yesterday we finished the day with drinks around the campfire, after a great meal cooked over the campfire. The park is almost empty except for the three of us and some tenters.

Friday Linda & I had bagels to tie us over until breakfast was decided, since no plans were made Thursday night. Della & George announced they needed to go home as they had a seviceman coming Saturday. We all decided to meet for lunch in Lake Wales, good thing we had a bagel!

Before headin' off to town it was decided we had to have a return game o' washers. This time I teamed with George, Linda with Noel and Della with Barb.

Della gettin' ready to pitch one.

An' Barb lettin' 'er fly.

Seems George & I won the first and second round, so we were declared the victors today. Then the underdogs played for second place, which went to Della & Barb. Then it was off to town for lunch at the Chinese Buffet, not to bad. When we returned to camp from late lunch , stuffed like a bunch of ticks, we settled in for 'Happy Hour'. We made a nice campfire and just sat talking into the night, although Linda had to go watch Grey's Anatomy during the evening.

Saturday started with eggs over easy, hash with potatoes, toast, OJ & coffee at Noel & Barbs cause the wind has really started to pick up to the 25-30mph, with the approach of the cold front. Noel & Barb have decided to come back to Vero with us to see our son Jason for the day, so this morning was spent breakin' camp somewhat in preparation for our departure Sunday morn. In the afternoon we went to town to fill a propane tank, the store was closed. Saw Barb's brother and wife, who are leaving for Michigan on Sunday, then returned a campfire fireplace we've been using to friends in Babson Park. Then it was back to camp cause us fella's needed to get in our nap before 'Happy Hour' & dinner. As Noel & I are restin' we smell smoke, nothin' too unusual since we have some new folks upwind of us. Turns out it's not a campfire as we spot this as were eatin' dinner.

A bit of smoke over the bath house.

As we watch the fire we're wonderin' if the fire fighters are gettin' a handle on it at all, cause remember them 30 mph winds, they're still blowing. Well we figure that we're due north of the fire, it;s movin' northeast, so we're in a good position even though the only way out is south through the fire. The fire is still a mile away, the smoke is going diagonal to us, so we sit and wait keepin' an eye on it. Some folks tried to leave the park , only to be turned back by officials that had the road closed. We watched and figured the fire should have crossed the road from west to east by now, so we're hopin' we are in a better position now. Then folks start comin' down into the park, one after the other, being evacuated by the fire officials & sheriffs department.

Fire's gettin' bigger & closer to us.

The folks that are comin' in say the Forestry department has got it under control and have started a back fire to try and starve it out. All this while there's a helicopter buzzin' around the fire, which we figure is a news chopper, then we hear a different helicopter.

And this guy appears over the lake.

Now we feel that they'll get control of the fire.

The Forestry chopper kept makin' repeated trips to the lake or to the lake adjacent to us, Tiger Lake, for water. we watched the smoke plume as it seemed to dissipate then billow in great clouds. After about an hour a sheriff's deputy came down and told us the Fire Marshal recommended we evacuate in the next 20 minutes, cause the fire was burning in a horseshoe and after this we might not be able to leave. We decided to go. Thank goodness Noel had hitched up when we returned from town, but there was still much to do. water & electric lines started flying along with outdoor furniture, rugs, get the slides in after the inside prep. We were a bunch of flyin' maniacs. we got everything under control then hitched up Noel's boat and we were off.

We made it up the road about a mile then came to a stop with fire burnin' on both sides of us. great Noel can't turn around here, I'm startin' to wonder if one hand knows what the other is doin'. Well we get movin again and as we move up the road we realize the fire is a lot bigger than we thought. It extends way back on both sides of the road, several homes are completely destroyed and fire and emergency crews are everywhere. Maybe leavin' aint' such a bad idea, better safe than sorry. So we're headin' home to our house, 80 miles down the road.

This was our last view of the lake at sunset.

Hope to see ya down the road, on another less exciting day as we're,

Dancin' on the Wind.

For more pictures of our short reunion and the firey exit visit our Picasa album.