Sharp's Travels

I was another cold morning with a temp of 38 degrees. There was no wind and a lot of sun. So the morning walk was nice. We made a trip to Dade City to have Cheri’s glasses adjusted. We made a stop at the grocery store on the way home. This after noon we went to see the movie Fools Gold. It was a good movie with a lot of laughs. We got a call from Kari this evening and said she liked the paintings that Cheri did for her and Jason. She is hoping that Jason will be able to get them put up this weekend. 3/8/08 is there open house for their Camp Bow Wow (doggie day care). It is going to be another cold night.

It was cold and windy this morning with a temp of 43 degrees and a high of 57 degrees, yesterday we had a high of 78 degrees. We had bought new drapes and shears for Grandpa and Grandma (with professional installation). Well two guys came at 10:15 am to install them and didn’t get done until 3:30 pm, three windows and a patio door, plus they didn’t have to change rods on one window. After they left we noticed that one of the rods was put up crooked. Now they will have to come back and fix it. I am sure I could have done the job with Cheri’s help a lot faster and done a better job. After that there was no time to do anything else for the day.

This morning I took Grandpa for his 8:40 am doctor appointment. It was a follow up visit from his hospital stay. He is still very weak and his blood pressure is now on the low side. So the doctor made a change in medications. When I got home Cheri was cleaning and cooking a corn beef for supper. She was also working on taxes and updating Grandpa medical history. After lunch I went down to Ken and Eileen’s to fix the lights on their golf cart. I found a bad wiring connection. At 2:00 pm I went back over to the neighbor across the street and worked on the remote starter for his generator. Traced it down to a wire with a bad connection, replaced the section of wire and now every thing works OK. Just has we started to go for our evening walk it started raining. It turned to a very hard rain with a lot of wind. It was still raining when we went to bed.

After the morning walk I got the bike out so I could put the lumber away from the painting easel. After Cheri got dressed we rolled all the burlap paintings on a carpet tube to ship them to Jason and Kari. I took Grandpa to the heart doctor this afternoon and had to wait an hour and a half to see the doctor. When I got home Cheri and I dropped off the painting at the UPS store to be shipped out. Then it was to Wal-Mart for groceries and to drop of prescriptions for Grandpa. When we got home I went over to the neighbors to help him with his generator. The remote starter doesn’t work; it appears to be a bad wire connection. We run out of day light and will work on it tomorrow. After supper we did our evening walk and was 7:30 before we got done.

There were 112 in church this morning. When we got there we were surprised to see Grandpa and Grandma. As it turned out it was too much for him. He was really tired when we got him home. Cheri made Rice Crispier bars and then fixed jerk pork chops for dinner while dismantled the painting easel. This afternoon we were invited down to Ken & Eileen’s to play Five Crown and dominos along with other friends and cousins. Cheri won two games of dominos and I won one game of Five Crown. When we got home Cheri took a short nap while I finished reading a book. It was 7:00 pm before we got done with our walk.

Cheri and I slept in this morning and decided to go out for a late breakfast and early lunch. We went to Golden Corral to eat. It is always a good place to eat. Grandpa is doing much better today. He walked up the hill and back and was talking more. This afternoon we took Grandma and went down to the Rec Hall for the Park Follies. It was a very good show with a lot of laughs. We had a rain storm come through early after noon. We got a lot of rain in a short time. We did get our evening walk in before it got dark.

After the morning walk Cheri went to work on the painting for Jason and Kari. She got them done about 5:30 pm. Now all that is left is to pack them up and get them shipped to Jason and Kari. I worked on the computer. I have uploaded some pictures I took while we were in Cape Coral. So you can take a look at them. Grandpa was doing even better today. Good news. Tomorrow I will try and get pictures uploaded of the things Cheri painted for Jason and Kari.

This morning we had some coffee and visited for a while before we said our good by’s. At 9:30 am we were on the road for home. Linda said I had to stop at a certain store for Cheri. When we got there it wasn’t open, had to wait for a few minutes for it to open. It was on the water and had a lot of things that you wouldn’t find any other place. It was 11:30 am before we got out of there and yes Linda, Cheri did buy a couple of things. I told Cheri to watch for a place to stop for lunch when we thought we were only a little ways from Bert’s where we had the great Philly sandwich the day before. So I turned the truck around and back we went. We each had another Philly sandwich with home made chips. It was 4:00 pm when we got home and the truck on packed. We did our evening walk and stopped to see how Grandpa was. Each day he seems a little better.

Brian and Linda got a new boat in January and it has two 150 horse Mercury engines. One of the engines was running hot so Brian had the repair man out to work on it. While that was being done we went to a place called Bert’s for lunch. Cheri and I each had a Philly steak sandwich with home made chips. It was the best Philly steak we ever had. When we got back the boat was ready to use. The repair man replaced the thermostat in the engine, now it works fine. Brian and Linda took us for a ride through the canals and out into the gulf. We made a stop at an island to do some shelling. Cheri picked up a lot of shells to bring back and I took pictures. We got back at 4:30 pm. We got cleaned up and went to the Tikki Hut in there complex to have drinks and snacks with other people in the complex. We met some very nice people and traded stories. After that we out to a place for a bowl of clam chowder and garlic toast. It was excellent. When we got back to Brain and Linda’s we watched the moon eclipse and then it was off to bed. It was a great day.

This morning we headed south to Cape Coral, 150 miles to spend a couple of days with our Financial Adviser Brian Rezny and his wife Linda. On the way we made a couple of stops. The first was at the carpet place to pick up a tube to use to ship Jason and Kari’s paintings that Cheri is working on. The second was at the Sprint store to get our address corrected. We arrived at Brian and Linda’s around 4:00 pm. We visited and had a couple of drinks, watched the sunset, it was beautiful and I got some pictures of it. After the sunset we headed down town for supper. We sat outside by the water where we could see the boats come and go. The supper was excellent. Then we went across the street to listen to the band and check out stores on the strip. We also checked out boats that were for sale. The price of the one we went on was 265,000. It was nice to look at but was way over our budget!! It was about 10:00 pm when we got back to Brian and Linda’s; we visited for a while and called it a night.

Cheri and I went down to the Rec Hall for breakfast this morning. They served eggs, sausage, pancakes, and french toast. It was very good. Grandpa had an appointment with a new doctor today and we didn’t know where it was at so Cheri and I went out to find the office and get the paper work that had to be filled out. On the way back we picked up medicine for Grandma. Cheri started painting again and I was going to mow the lawn. I use the neighbor’s lawn mower and found bolts missing from the handle. So I had to go and get bolts to fix it. When I got done mowing the lawn Cheri had a painting done and was ready for me to help her put up a new piece of burlap. I took Grandpa for his 2:15 pm doctor’s appointment. After getting Grandpa back home we had to go back to Wal-Mart with a new prescription for Grandpa. Then Cheri and I went to Chili’s for supper. At 8:00 pm we went back to Wal-Mart to pick up Grandpas medicine.

After church I got things ready for Cheri so she could start painting again. She did two paintings today. I helped the new neighbors across the street with their sewer hose. They had a wrong part and had to go to Wal-Mart to get a hose connector kit. When they got back I went over and helped them finish up. Then we had a nice visit and they were telling me about a nice campground near Washington DC (Cherry Hill). Next year we plan to make a trip up the East coast and do some of the Civil War history. I spent the rest of afternoon watching the Daytona NASCAR Race. Cheri got done painting about 3:00 pm.

This morning Cheri went to work on the painting for Jason and Kari. She did two paintings today and didn’t get done until. 3:30 pm. I made a trip to the grocery store to get a couple of things Cheri needed to make baked beans for the pot luck supper this evening down at the Rec Hall. At 2:00 pm I went down and help set up tables and chairs. After pot luck the guy who built the park was there and put on a presentation with pictures of how he built the different stages of the park. He started in 1971.

It was a beautiful day with a high of 75 degrees. We got a call that our glasses were ready, so we made a trip to Dade City to get them. It has been 4 or 5 years since we have had new glasses. When we got home Cheri went to work painting the 5’ by 9’ scenes of pine trees on burlap for Kari and Jason’s Camp Bow Wow. She got one done and has 8 more to do. Cheri also did a couple of loads of laundry. I built a sewer pipe extension for the 5th wheel to use while we are traveling. I saw it on the internet; it is support for the sewer hose. I also cleaned out the black water tank. This evening we went with Dean and Betty to the local church for their soup and pie supper, it was very good. When we got home Dean and Betty came in to play a game of dominoes. We guys got beat really bad! I checked on Grandpa today and he is doing better each day.

Happy Valentines Day!! Forty one years ago today Cheri and I were engaged. It was 37 degrees here this morning with frost on all the cars. It made for a cold walk this morning. Cheri and I both felt better today and made a trip to the flea market. I bought a pair of binoculars and Cheri bought a couple of t-shirts. From there we went to Wal-Mart for groceries. Stopped at the gas station and put in $130 dollars of diesel in the truck. Actually the price is down to $3.26 per gallon. This afternoon we went to Dade City shopping and to eat at a new place. Don’t remember the name of the place; guess I don’t care because it wasn’t very good. We got home around 3:00 pm and decided to take our walk before it cooled off. Then we settled in to watch the NASCAR Race that I recorded.

Cheri put in a bad night and is under the weather today. I think all the stress has caught up to her. In fact I am also petty tired. I did do the morning walk. It is also a cool gloomy, windy, rainy day. One thing that really makes it a bad day is the coffee pot quit working. Cheri did a lot of reading and napping, I did some surfing on the computer and a few odd jobs. We did walk this evening and stopped to see how Grandpa was doing. He is starting to eat more but is still very weak.

This morning we were over to Grandpa and Grandma’s by 9:00 am. We had an appointment with a person from home care. While Cheri worked with the home care person I took Grandma for her blood work. We waited 45 minutes and I finally went to the desk and checked to see what was going on, there seemed to be some kind of mix up. When we got home Cheri was still working with the home care person and that lasted until 11:30 am. Then Cheri and I went to Wal-Mart to get Grandpa’s medication. On the way we stopped for lunch at Chili’s, they have a new lunch menu. Everything was very good and a fair price. When we got to Wal-Mart we were told there was no medicine for Grandpa and needed to see the doctor. The medicine was supposed to be there last night. We went to the doctor’s office to see what was going on and found out that they had faxed in the prescription the day before. It tuned out that the fax machine at Wal-Mart was broke. To make a long story short we finely got the medicine at 5:00 pm. It was a long day.

This morning we had to be over to Grandpa and Grandma’s by 8:30 am as the carpet guy was going to be there at 9:00 am to change out the trim in the bathroom and re stretch the carpet. Grandma left right a way for the hospital to see Grandpa. About 9:30 am we received a call from the hospital that Grandpa was coming home. Cheri went back home to wait for them to come as they couldn’t come to there place because of the carpet work wasn’t done. He didn’t get done with the carpet until 2:30 pm. Then we brought Grandpa home. He still isn’t doing very good, very weak and has a hard time walking and is still saying his stomach hurts. This evening Cheri and I went to a show here in the park. It was the Robert Lee Crigger show. It was music form the fifties and sixties. As he did each song he gave a little history about who wrote it and who sang it. It was a very interesting show.

We stopped by Grandma’s before we went to church to see how Grandpa did yesterday. She said that he got up and walked down the hallway and back to bed which is a good sign. After church we went to the hospital to see Grandpa. When we got there they were taking him to have an x-ray of his stomach as he was complaining that his stomach hurt and didn’t feel good. This afternoon he did get up and walk some. Cheri and I went for our walk this afternoon and stopped along the way to give a report on how Grandpa was doing. On the way over to pick Grandma up we stopped a Wal-Mart to pick up Grandma’s prescription. We order pizza for supper.

This morning Grandma was over early to give us an update on Grandpa. They have moved him to a different room. She said he did better today and was eating better. We left here at 9:15 am and headed for the second day of the Alaskan rally. We went to a stretching class on how to keep from getting stressed on the road and how to relax your body to keep from getting stiff, also a lot of other exercises to help us old folks. Then we had a class on different natural oils that will help keep us in good heath. At noon Cheri and I went for lunch at Arby’s and then to Camping World. Needless to say we bought a few things. Then it was back to the Rally Park for the Alaskan Block Party. We got to meet most all the people that will be on our Alaskan Tour. We also had a nice visit with other people that had been on tour #2. Then we had a catered in meal of ribs and chicken for supper. After supper Spike and Lindy (Hosts and owners of Alaskan Discovery RV Tours) put on a great show. After the show we said goodby to our new friends and look forward to seeing them in June.

Grandma left for the Hospital at 9:30 am and Cheri and I waited for the carpet guy. He called and said it would be noon before he could get there; Cheri and I had to leave at 1:00 pm for our Alaska RV Rally in Tampa. So we now have an appointment to get the carpet done on Monday at 9:00 am. On our way to the rally we stopped to see how Grandpa was doing. I don’t think he was doing as good has yesterday. They got him out of bed to walk and only took two steps and said he couldn’t do it. When we got there they had just brought his lunch and Cheri did get him to eat a little. We left for the rally at 1:00 pm. We were a little disappointed when we first got there, but thing did come together and had a good time. We meet 4 couples that are going to be in our tour group. It was nice to get to know them. Different people got up and told about some of the funny things that happened on their tour. We got home at 9:30 pm.

We picked up grandma and took her to the hospital this morning and Grandpa seemed to be doing a little better. He had gotten out of bed for the first time and walked to the bathroom. Cheri and I left around 11:30 am and came home. We had to be at Grandpa and Grandma’s has the carpet guy was coming to fix the carpet. When he got there and checked things out, he said the guy that installed it didn’t stretch it tight enough. So he is coming back tomorrow and re stretch all the carpet. That means moving all the furniture out. He said it was there mistake and would move all the furniture out and put it back in when they got done. We tried to walk tonight before we went to pick up Grandma at the hospital, but had to cut it short because a lot of people were stopping us to see how Grandpa was and didn’t want to be late. This evening we went over to see Lynn and Pat Greene. We had gone to Alaska a few years ago and we want to hear about their trip and pick up any additional things that they thought we should see.

Before we went to the hospital we stopped at the doctor’s office so Grandma could have her blood work done. When we got to the hospital we found Grandpa not doing very good. He had chest pains in the night. The nurse gave him some nitro which helped with the pain. The Heart doctor was to stop in and see him, as of 6:00 pm he hadn’t been there. Grandma stayed with Grandpa this afternoon. Cheri gave me a hair cut this afternoon and cleaned the 5th wheel while I was at Grandpa and Grandma’s putting up a grab bar in the bath tub. At 6:00 pm we went and picked up Grandma and brought her home. It was 7:30 before we got done with our evening walk. It was the first time we have walked this week.

We picked Grandma up at 10:30 am and went to the hospital to see Grandpa. They were giving him another unit of blood as his hemoglobin was down and were going to do another test as they thought he was bleeding internally. Everything came out ok and there was no more bleeding. We went for lunch and then dropped Grandma off at the hospital. Cheri and I came home for a couple of hours to rest and then I went back to the hospital to get Grandma. Grandpa looked a lot better this evening, was talking and had something to eat.

We picked up Grandma about 9:30 am and went to the hospital to see Grandpa. He put in a tough night, but hopefully is on the mend. At 12:00 pm Grandma, Cheri and I went to lunch at Arby’s and then back to the hospital to drop off Grandma. Cheri and I went shopping for a chair for the bathtub and a grab bar to up in the shower. When we got home we rested for a while has nether us slept very good last night. At 5:30 pm we went back to the hospital for a little while and bought Grandma home. Grandpa looked a little better this evening and was talking some.

This wasn’t a good day. It started with a call from Grandma saying she was having a problem with Grandpa. When we got there we see he had a lot of blood in his stool. Cheri called for an ambulance. When they got there they started an IV and called for more help to get him out of the trailer. At the hospital Cheri sat with him while Grandma and I stayed in the waiting room as they only let one person be with him and Cheri had all of his medical history. It makes it hard for Grandma because she death. They gave him one unit of blood and call in people to give him a nuclear x-ray to see where the blood was coming from. Then they put him in ICU and started another unit of blood. We left the hospital about 10:00 pm. We got a call around 11:00 pm telling us they had the results from the nuclear test and showed the bleeding was coming from his stomach and was going to go down through his nose and try to cauterize it. It was a long night.

So did the ground hog see his shadow? I guess it depends on what TV station you were watching. So now I am confused, I think Mother Nature knows and isn’t telling. Cheri spent the day painting on burlap. She has one almost done and looks very good. We had bought a new stapler to staple the burlap to the easel and it wouldn’t work so I took it back to Lowe’s and got a different one. I spent the day washing and cleaning out the inside of the truck. Late this afternoon Cheri and I went out to eat at IHOP in Dade City and then went to the car show. It is always fun looking at all the old cars.

It was a gloomy day, with a little rain. It was one of those days when you don’t feel like doing anything. Cheri did some laundry this morning. I had a hard time with our morning walk, by back is still really sore. Other then reading and watching TV, the only thing we did today was take in a movie. We went to see Untraceable, It was a good story line and kept you interested to the end, the acting wasn’t that good. The sun finally came out around 4:00 pm and made a nice evening for our walk.

Cheri and I took off early for the flea market about 10 miles from here. We did buy some grapefruit. Then we went to the carpet place where Grandpa and Grandma got there carpet. I had taken pictures of the trim in the bathroom and a place in the hallway where the carpet wasn’t installed properly. They were very nice about it and are coming to fix the problems. Then we made a quick stop at K-Mart to return some pants that didn’t fit me. Then we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Then we went to Lowe’s to pick up the materials to build the 5 foot by 10 foot easel. This afternoon Cheri helped me build the easel, now Cheri can start her painting of the burlap for Jason and Kari’s Camp Bow Wow. Later I will upload some pictures of the easel and what Cheri is painting. We made a few stops on our evening walk and took us 2 ½ hours to complete (more talking and less exercise).