Sharp's Travels: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Gay April-29-12

6:25 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Grandma at 9:00 am and headed to church. Eight of us from our Life Group went out for lunch at Red Lobster. I thought the service was slow but that gave us more time to visit and the food was pretty good. It was after 1:00 pm when we got home. I changed clothes and went out and put the cover back on our neighbor’s car that got blown off from the wind a few days ago. After I got it back on I took some extra rope I had to make sure it won’t come off again. It didn’t take me that long to do it but I was soaking wet from sweat in the short time I was out. Our Florida summer weather is here with the high temps and humidity. So being it was Sunday I decided to chill out the rest of the day. Cheri read the Sunday paper and played solitaire on her I-Pad. I watched the rest of the NASCAR race that I couldn’t stay awake for last night. We also watched some shows I don’t have much to write about today. Our Sundays are always about the same. We picked up we had recorded.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Gay April-28-12

6:24 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We got a call from Pat and Roger this morning and they told us they got the house that we looked at with them a week ago. Pat was so excited about getting it and we are very happy for them. It will be nice for them when they come to Florida for the winter and not having to worry about finding something to rent and wonder if it will be a clean place. Mike and Pam picked us up at 9:30 am this morning and we headed to Palmetto to check on Hank and Betty’s (Mike’s brother and his wife) condo that they bought just before they went back north for the summer. Mike and Pam said they would check on it once a month and today was the day. It was nice of Mike and Pam to invite us to go along. The condo is on the 5th floor with a view of the water and the Sun Shine Bridge that goes in to Tampa from the south over Tampa Bay. Then we went down on the river to have lunch at the River House. It was another new place for Cheri and me; we sat outside on the patio for our lunch which was excellent. We had a beautiful view of the river and marina. After lunch Pam and Cheri needed a shopping fix so they did some shopping near where we eat lunch while Mike and I waited outside on a bench visiting. We were only a few miles from Pat and Roger’s so we decided to surprise them and have them show Mike and Pam their new house. After checking out the house Pat took us over to show Mike and Pam the Rec Hall. After a short visit it was time for us to wander back home. We did make a stop in Plant City to have supper at Panera Bread. A cup of soup and sandwich was just enough. It was around 5:30 pm when we arrived home. It was a wonderful day God made for us to spend with close friends.

view from River House

along the board walk to the River House

board walk to River House

Cheri and Pam on the board walk?

or a picture on the side of a building

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Gay April-27-12

6:30 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Our warm nights and days are back, it was in the low 80’s today. Cheri did some cleaning and laundry this morning. I took my waste oil from the motorcycle over to Wal-Mart to get rid of it. It sure is nice that they take the used oil. All you have to do is sign a log with your name, address, and how much waste oil you have. Then I took another load of stuff down to the new storage shed. It was 11:00 am when I got done and was ready for a shower. We picked up Mike and Pam at 12:00 pm and headed up to Dade City for lunch at a restaurant that Cheri and I hadn’t eaten at before and everything was excellent. I don’t remember the name of it, one of the down falls of getting old. After lunch Pam and Cheri had to make a stop at a store while Mike and I sat outside watching the world pass by. In fact I think we got most of the worlds troubles taken care of, too bad they don’t listen to us. Then we headed back to Mike and Pam’s to recover their kitchen chairs. Pam had gotten some pretty material some time ago and we finely got together to get it done, they looked very nice when we got done and brighten up the kitchen. We played cards until it was time for Mike and Pam to go to see their grand kids. When we got home we settled in for an evening of TV, no supper tonight because of the large lunch today (we did snack).

Friday, April 27, 2012

Gay April-26-12

7:42 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

The caulking is done! I got done around 1:00 pm, sure glad that project is done. My caulking job doesn’t look so good but its water tight. Cheri went to Wal-Mart this morning to pick up Grandma’s medicine and a few groceries she forgot to get yesterday. When she got home I asked her what all she done and figured she had been shopping because it was around 1:30 pm when she got home. She said I picked up Grandma’s medicine and just looked at me. I said well what else did you do and she still just stood there and looked at me. Finally she said I had my hair done, a perm and highlights. Soooooo I should be in the doghouse, but my sweet wife is very forgiving. This afternoon I started hauling our valuables (stuff) down to the new storage shed. I made two trips and have most of it is moved, it was after 4:00 pm when I got done and I was ready for a shower. After my shower I rested a while and Cheri asked me if I would grill some pork chops for supper, they sure did taste good as it has been a while since I have done any grilling. This evening we went over to Grandma’s to play dominos with her and Dean & Betty. It was a fun evening and Betty won the game. I noticed that I have spelled caulking about three different ways the last few days, I never was a good speller but I think you get my point.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Gay April-25-12

7:32 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

It was 48 degrees this morning and not sure I wanted to go out. I can’t believe how much of a wimp I have turned into over the last seven winters. When we came to Florida for the first winter and when it got down in the 40’s we would laugh at how all the people were bundled up for the weather, well we are those like of people now. Cheri didn’t get up in time to go for our morning workout and walk. She said that she didn’t sleep very well and didn’t want to get up. Once again I thought that I was done removing old chalking on the 5th wheel, but not so. I spent another whole day removing old calking and replacing and adding additional screws. I also got all the areas cleaned and ready for the new chalking tomorrow. Yep I am really going to get the chalking done tomorrow. Cheri took Grandma for her doctor’s appointment this morning. Then home for a while before she went to Wal-Mart to get groceries. This afternoon she worked on her quilt project. This evening was our Life Group gathering. It was a very interesting evening and was so glad that Mike and Pam were there has she always has the right answers, thanks Pam.

Cheri's quilt project

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Gay April-24-12

6:38 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

It was a little colder this morning with a temp of 52 degrees and a high of 72 degrees. It was a very nice morning with no wind but has the sun kept getting higher it got windy. I asked Cheri what she was going to do today and she said she was going to work on her quilt. Well that lasted until Pam came and wanted to know if Cheri wanted to go shopping. Cheri will never turn down a chance to go shopping. My day was the same as yesterday. I decided to remove the old chalking and add more screws to the rear cap on the 5th wheel. The next step is to clean the area where I took out the old chalking so the new will stay in place, that will take me most of the day tomorrow. I worked until 3:30 pm and then it was time for a shower. I have my old storage shed sold and will have to move it to a different lot, so I went to check out the site that I have to move it to and it is going to take some work to get it into the spot where they want it. Before I move it I have to check with the park manage if it’s ok to move it and if the place where they want it is ok. Cheri got home around 4:00 pm and had a fun time shopping with Pam. Once again it was Dancing with the Stars this evening and Cheri told me go would be going home and she was right. I think she would make a good judge.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Gay April 23-12

6:48 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cooler here this morning as it was 59 degrees and a little on the windy side and then this afternoon it was very windy. The wind was strong enough that it blew the car cover off of one of the cars up the road from us. A lady that live up that way came down and told me so I got the car cover and will put it back on tomorrow if the wind has stopped. The wind had ripped the grommets and rope right out of the cover. I went out early this morning to start washing the side of the 5th wheel before it got too hot, well the heat was never a problem because I had a light jacket on most of the day. I just started washing and found some more chalking that needed to be replaced. So I spent the rest of the day removing old chalking and replacing some broken screws. I also added additional screws in between all the existing screws on the front cap. The extra screws will give it more strength and should solve the problem of broken screws. It was near 4:00 pm before I had enough for the day. Cheri was in a baking mood today as she baked two cakes of zucchini with blue berries, it was great. Cheri also worked on her quilt project until it was time to take Grandma for her eye appointment which took most of the afternoon. I was in the process of cleaning up things out side when she got home. When I came inside she was baking a spinach quiche for supper, it was excellent. This evening we watched a couple of shows we had recorded and Dancing with the Stars.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Gay April-22-12

8:14 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We got a lot of rain during the night and we are supposed to get more this forenoon. I checked the rain gauge this morning before we left for church and we got just under an inch. It has been so dry that should help green things up. While we were in church we could hear the rain coming down real hard. When we left church we could see a mixture of blue sky, fluffy clouds, and some dark rain clouds. We didn’t get any more rain for the day. It was just Grandma, Cheri and I for lunch today as the rest of our Life Group had other plans. We stopped at Sunrise Eatery for lunch and then home. I went over to Carol’s place to fix her TV. She had her grand kids with her for a few days and they hooked up one of their games to the TV and when they left her she couldn’t get her VCR or DVD player to work. It took me about an hour to figure out what they had done and I hooked it up different then what it was before. I am not sure how it could have worked before as I had to use a cable that wasn’t used before. The good thing is it all works the way it should and she is happy. When I got home Cheri was playing solitaire on the I-pad. So I started watching the NASCAR Race before it was time for us to leave and head to Tampa for our dinner cruise with Mike & Pam and Ron & Sandy. We all had a croupon that we had bought a few months ago and we finally got together to go. We had a wonderful dinner and dancing while cruising around the Tampa Bay and seeing the city skyline and where some of the poor people live. I have up loaded pictures, click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels . Then click on album: Dinner Cruise.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Gay April-21-12

6:23 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

I worked this morning doing the final washing on the top of the 5th wheel. I wanted to get that done as there is rain coming this afternoon. That way the roof will have a nice soft water rinse with no water spots. Then I went over to Ron and Sandy’s Green Acers to install a new heating and cooling thermostat. It has been a while since I have been out there; Ron showed me around and has a lot of work done but still has a lot left to do. Jay was there tiling the master bathroom shower. Ron and I headed over to Home Depot to get the new thermostat and then back to Green Acers to install it. After I got the thermostat installed I sat down and visited with Ron for a while before I headed back home. When I got home I see Cheri had started another quilt project. When it’s done it will look like a stained glass window, very pretty. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV or I should say there were more napping then TV watching. Later this evening we Skyped Larry and Denise as we seen that they had tried to get us. They just got home back home in Ontario to cold weather and 4 inches of snow this afternoon. They said they had a good trip home and spent an extra night on the road because of the snow. We didn’t talk long as they received a call from Larry’s daughter while we were talking. The rain finally came late this afternoon and was raining when we went to bed.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Gay April-20-12

6:39 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

I went down to see Ed this morning as he had a guy from Carefree Resorts (company that owns Baker Acers) come to let him know what he could and couldn’t do with his park model. But when I got there Loraine said that he has gone to see the permit people. So I went over to where I have the storage shed to take a couple of measurements and then was going to go and order the materials for the motorcycle port. Well Ed showed up and said I have would have to get a permit for the motorcycle port. Long story short I have decided to wait until this fall when we come back as I will have more time to get everything done. This afternoon I worked on the truck to see if I could get rid of the vibration, I lowered the driveshaft center bearing a little over an inch and then took it out for a drive. Well that didn’t fix the problem so I will do some more thinking about that. Cheri did laundry and worked on her sewing project. This evening we went out for supper with our Life Group. Carolyn’s son Brent was home from Kansas and it was a chance for us to meet him, what a nice young man. Afterwards we went up to Mike and Pam’s to play cards. We played one game of Hand, Knee and Foot that Mike and I won. Then we played two games of SOB, Cheri won one and Mike won the other one. Pam came out on the short end this evening. It was another enjoyable evening with friends.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Gay April-19-12

7:30 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We took our time getting around this morning because we didn’t have to be anywhere early, so it is a day of relaxation. We took the van and headed to Parrish for the day to visit Cheri’ lifelong girlfriend Pat and her husband Roger from Maine. We were going to take the motorcycle but the weather said rain and it was a good thing that we didn’t take the bike as we did run into rain. The first thing we did after we got the Pat and Rogers was head over to Ellenton to have lunch at Woody’s River Roo. Anytime we are close to Ellenton we have to eat at Woody’s as they have the best haddock fish and chips. While we were eating Pat and Roger were telling us about a house they looked at this morning. They are thinking about buying a place because they can’t find one for rent in the park they are in right now and they want to stay in the park. So when we got back to their place Roger called the people and asked them if they could tour the house again so Cheri and I could see it and give them our input. Roger came back from calling them and they said what took you so long to call. Well as it turned out we got the tour of the house and I checked everything out and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Cheri and I feel it would be and excellent buy. Then it was back to Pat and Rogers place for more visiting and then time to head for home. We got home a little past 6:00 pm and settled in for an evening of TV.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Gay April-18-12

6:37 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We had another productive day. Cheri has started another sewing project. It is a project that is 90 percent hand sewing and she thought it would be a good project while we are traveling, from the looks it will probably take all summer to complete it. I was going to get a new exhaust fan for the RV but after looking over the old one I decided that I could fix it. So the old fan will live for another day (much longer I hope). I also did a little more chalking and I think that I am done with that unless I find some spots while cleaning and waxing. I also had a few errands to run this morning and filled up the van with gas, I think the fuel price has dropped a couple of cents, well if it didn’t it made me feel better to think it did. On the way back I stopped by Ed and Loraine’s to talk to Ed about putting the motorcycle port on our new storage shed. We went over and took a few measurements and he gave me some different ideas. I have heard by the grape vine that come May 1^st we have to have a building permit for anything we do. Later today Cheri and I went out to do some pricing on materials for the motorcycle port. Later in the afternoon I stopped by Ed’s again and he had a plan drawing of how to build the motorcycle port. Long story short we are going to be out of town tomorrow and are going to get together again on Friday to take some additional measurements, sure nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off of. This evening was our Life Group gathering and was another interesting evening. We also talked about mission trips, some day I would like to do one and maybe it will be sooner than I think. I haven’t got Cheri convinced to go.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Gay April-17-12

6:05 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

I got a call this morning that our new storage shed would be here around 9:30 am. So Cheri and I took the camera and went down and got ready for the delivery and set up. Cheri was in charge of taking pictures of the process. By noon the shed was set in place, leveled up and staked down. After lunch we headed out to find a new dentist. We check out the list on the internet of the ones that accept our dental insurance. We decided it was time to make the change as the dentist that we have up in Wisconsin is retiring. We wanted to have that country dentist (small practice) like we had up north. We did find one here in Zephyrhills and went to make an appointment and found that they are booked until after we leave this spring, but did put us down in case they get a cancellation. The rest of the afternoon Cheri rested and read our Life Group lesson. It was time for me to leave for my 2:30 pm doctor’s appointment in Tampa. It was 3:10 pm before I got in to see the doctor. Then I had to go over to the pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics that is supposed to help me get over my diarrhea. It was near 5:00 pm when I got home and Cheri was fixing chicken and dumplings and fresh baked biscuits for supper, what a wonderful surprise and one of my favorites.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Gay April-16-12

6:28 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

It was a busy work day. Cheri went over to Grandma’s to do her spring cleaning, washing down walls and stripping the beds and doing laundry. She also made a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up groceries and medicine for Grandma. One prescription that Cheri called in last Thursday wasn’t there. She called the doctor’s office to find out about it and they had no record that she had called, so now it will be a couple of more days before it is ready. I worked on cleaning the roof of the 5^th wheel and was cleaning around the kitchen power vent and noticed the cover was cracked. So I will have to make a trip to Camping World to get a new one. Cheri came home around 12:30 pm for lunch and that was good because I was ready for a break. After lunch Cheri went back to Grandma’s, she said that she had to hang the blankets out on the line and had another load to do. I went back to work on the roof doing a general cleaning and hope to do a deep cleaning after I get the new vent installed. By 2:30 pm I had all the sun I could take so I got cleaned up and rode the motorcycle up to Dade City to pay the spraying bill and get the new license for Grandma’s park model. I stopped on the way home at Lowe’s to pick up some more house cleaner. It was near 4:00 pm when I got home and Cheri had just gotten home. We both were pooped and sat down to rest awhile. Cheri said that she had maybe two more days of work at Grandma’s. We called our daughter Nikki to see how their spring trip to Texas was. They said they had a great time and didn’t want to go home. Cheri stayed up to watch Dancing with the Stars and I went to bed at 9:00 pm, I couldn’t stay awake.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Gay April-15-12

7:39 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

What a packed filled Sunday we had. It started out like all Sundays by picking up grandma at 9:00 am and heading to church. Then out for lunch with our Life Group. After lunch we headed home to drop off Grandma at 1:00 pm. Pam and Mike picked us up at 1:30 pm and we headed to Keel & Culey Winery near Plant City. We had bought a Croupon on line for a tour and wine tasting. The tour started at 2:00 pm and we arrived at 1:55 pm. They gave each of a nice crystal wine glass and told us to hop aboard the wine express (a tractor and wagon with seats) that took us out through the blue berries to the building where they make the wine. They make three different blue berry wines and specialty wines that are blends of grapes and fruits known as Fusion Wines. While we were there on the tour we had a glass of semi-sweet blue berry wine right out of vat. We also got to pick a few blue berries to see how sweet they were. After the tour we went to the wine tasting room where we got to taste nine or ten (who keeps track) different wines along with several different wine smoothies. We had a lot of fun and the more wine we tasted the more fun we had. For more information on the winery go to this link www.keelandcurleywinery.com .Then it was time to head for Tampa has we had reservations for 5:00 pm at Arigato Japanese Steak House for dinner. Mike and Pam had a Groupon for the meal. It was fun to watch them prepare the meal in front of us with all their tricks of the trade, the food was excellent. Then we headed back to our place for a game of Hand, Knee and Foot that Cheri and Pam won. Then we played on game of SOB which Mike won, I guess that made me the loser for the day, not really because when you spend time with God and close friends you are always a winner. I have uploaded pictures of the day. Click on this link here https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels . Then click on album: Wine and Dine.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Gay April-14-12

5:22 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We headed out this morning with the motorcycle to go on the Ethan Deaton Ride. We met at the Village Inn here in Zephyrhills. Ethan was born with Cerebral Palsy and loves motorcycles. This is Ethan’s first motorcycle ride and was very excited. He rode in a side car. There were about 50 motorcycles and they were all going in one group. So Cheri and I decided not to ride with them as we felt it was too many motorcycles to be riding in one group, an accident looking for a place to happen. So we headed back home and I worked on doing more chalking on the 5^th wheel. I work until 1:30 pm and decided I had enough for one day and hadn’t stopped for lunch. So after lunch Cheri gave me a much needed haircut. Other then my haircut Cheri took it easy this afternoon and played solitaire on the I-Pad. This evening we walked over to visit with Dean and Betty for while and then down to visit with Norm and Marlene it was near 8:30 pm when we got back home and I had a NASCAR Race to watch. I watched until I fell asleep and finally turned off the race and went to bed. I will finish watching the race in the morning.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Gay April-13-12

6:38 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cheri and I took the motorcycle and headed to the hospital this morning to see Craig. We got there around 9:30 am and the doctor was with him when we arrived. After the doctor left we went in to see him. He was in good spirits and the doctor told him it looked like he had a case of Trans-Global Amnesia. They also think the amnesia was somehow related to a mini-stroke. They told him that they want to run a few more test and if they come back ok he could go home this afternoon. Michelle came around 11:00 am and we visited with the two of them until 12:00 pm. We left and headed for home, stopped and had lunch at a Subway. After I got home I checked and the utility locates were done so I called to have the storage shed brought in and was told that it would be delivered on Tuesday morning. I changed the fuel filter on the trucks auxiliary fuel tank. I had planned on doing some more work but I wasn’t feeling up to it so I went inside and rested. I got up this morning really tied and felt down all day. Cheri work this afternoon going through all of her quilt magazines pulling out projects she wants to do some day and putting them in a three ring binder. We watched some TV late this afternoon and I took a two hour nap. We got an e-mail from Michelle late this evening saying that she and Craig got home from the hospital around 10:00 pm. Thank you for all your prayers.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Gay April-12-12

7:04 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cheri had planned on going over to Grandma’s this morning to do some cleaning but realized that she was going to have Bob there and Grandma would be showing him how to make a raisin cream pie and didn’t want to be in the way. When Cheri is cleaning she wants to be by herself. I started working on the 5^th wheel removing old chalking and putting in new. I just got a good start and was in the 5^th wheel looking for some razor blades when a call came in on Skype. It was from Larry and Denise, they wanted to meet up and go for a motorcycle ride today. Well I put my tools away and we got ready to go for a ride. Larry and Denise rode over here and they said I had to lead today. So we headed for the hills up around Dade City and then worked our way to Lakeland because Larry wanted to stop at Harbor Freight. Of course that was fine with me, but Cheri and Denise thought that we should also stop at Jo-Ann Fabrics for them. Cheri and Denise both bought some solar powered rope lights to put around our 5^th wheel and their motor home. From there we went to Olive Garden for a late lunch and early supper. After supper we said our goodbyes as it will be the last time we see them before they head back to Ontario for the summer. Later this evening we went for a walk to see Bud and Verlin and to see if the utility locating had been done for our new storage shed. It wasn’t done; I was hoping they would get it done early so I could have the shed delivered this week. Then we walked down to see Ed and Loraine as it has been some time since we have talked to them. They got a different car and Ed had to show it to me, it is really nice. Cheri got a call from Pam while we were there letting us know that Michelle had taken Craig to the emergency room as he couldn’t remember how he got home from work and what he had done today or what happened the last week. So we headed back home and was just leaving for the hospital when we got another call from Pam. She said that Mike had just called and said that he was on his way home from the hospital and that Craig was resting and they are pretty sure it wasn’t a stroke and would be admitted to the hospital. Ron and Sandy were also there so we decide to wait and go down tomorrow morning to be with Michelle while Craig has test done. Would all of our friends and family please pray for Craig?

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Gay April-11-12

6:42 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cheri took Grandma for her B-12 shot this morning and I worked on drawing up a site plan for a new storage shed to put on the new lot. I took the site plan down to the Park Office and they looked it over and approved what we are going to do so there will be no problems with our new neighbor. Of course I am sure he won’t be happy. In time I hope he will come around. When I got back to the 5^th wheel Cheri was already home so we headed out to look at new storage sheds. We found one at Sheds City here in Zephyrhills. After we got one picked out and paid for it was time for lunch. We stopped at Sunshine Eatery and had a Greek salad. We also made a stop at the post office to pick up some stamps for Grandma. When we got back to Grandma’s to drop off her stamps I show her my sky diving video. I also called to have the unities located on the new lot so we could place the new storage shed and have it tied down. The locating will be done by Monday morning at 9:30 am and have Shed City bring in and set up the shed in the afternoon, love it when a plan comes together. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting water softener salt into bags ready to use when it is time to regenerate the softener. In fact I did it regenerate the softener this afternoon and changed all the water filters. I had a problem with one of the filter o-rings and had to go to Lowe’s to buy a new one and some water filters. We passed on supper because of the big lunch and the dessert we will have after our Life group gathering which Cheri has made. It’s called Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert. Cheri had bought what she needed to make it yesterday and I had noticed the bag of Peanut Butter cups was open, she told me that she had to make sure that they were ok to use (she loves peanut butter). We were short a few of our Life Group friends this evening do to other commitments. None of us liked the chapter we had but was surprised how it lead to some very interesting things that some of didn’t know or hadn’t thought about. Pam we needed you there to help us out. All in all it was a great evening and the dessert was great.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Gay April-10-12

7:34 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cheri went shopping this morning at Wal-Mart and K-Mart to get groceries and some storage totes. She is still doing the spring cleaning and unloading the cabinets with things that we don’t use anymore and wants to keep until we settle down in one place. I went down to the new lot we are moving onto this fall to clean up where Bud and Verlin had their storage shed sitting and their neighbor came over and told me he was planting a palm tree in the corner where Bud’s shed had been sitting. Bud came over and said you can’t do that because it isn’t on your lot. He told Bud that his shed had been on his lot. Well I said why don’t you go and get the park manager so we can get this settled. When I came back with the shovel and rake the park manage was there and told the neighbor that the lot line was correct and that Buds shed wasn’t on his lot. He continued to argue with the park manage saying that he was wrong. Bud and Verlin had been on this lot for 5 years and had the park manager there when he put the storage shed in so there wouldn’t be any problem. The neighbor has been there only two years. I told the guy I just want to get along with my neighbor and he looked at me and said you will never be my neighbor because you are a SOB. Nice way to start out what I had thought would be a nice friendship. This afternoon I had a hearing appointment in Tampa and on the way home I stopped at a couple of places to check on new storage sheds. I was planning on moving our small shed to the new site and then getting a larger one next fall. But not if I did that I would probably have a problem with the neighbor again, so I guess we will get the new storage shed now and set it in the same place where Bud had his so there won’t be any more problems with our new neighbor. Darren got my Sky Dive video uploaded onto the web and is ready for you to see it. Click on this link to see it. http://vimeo.com/40012527

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Gay April-9-12

7:33 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cheri had some errands to do this morning and when she got back we got on the motorcycle and head over to Clermont to spend the day with Larry and Denise. We arrived at their place around 11:00 am and visited for a while and then took a motorcycle ride up to the Lakeridge Winery which is north of Clermont right on highway 27. It is the largest winery in Florida. We watch a 15 minute movie about the history of the winery and then they took us on a tour of the winery. It was very interesting and I was able to take pictures. They have a great web page that tells you about their history, check it out http://www.lakeridgewinery.com . Then we rode to the Showcase of Citrus. It is a 2,500 acre working citrus and cattle ranch, with a lot of neat things to see. We even rode the bus out into the orchard to pick our own oranges and tangerines. I also took a few pictures while we were there and you can learn more about the ranch by going to their web page at http://www.showcaseofcitrus.com . Then we headed back to Larry and Denise’s place for a wonderful supper that Denise fixed and Larry grilled up chicken that Denise had marinated. We had cherry cheesecake for dessert (one of my favorites). After supper we played one game of Hand, Knee and Foot which Larry and I won. Then it was time to say goodbye and head for home. It was around 9:30 pm and 135 mile later when we got home. It was another wonderful day for a motorcycle ride with friends. I have uploaded pictures of the day. I have put them in two different albums so click here https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels . Then click on album Lakeridge Winery or Showcase of Citrus. I also got the pictures that Denise took at the Bunny Egg-Stavaganza uploaded. They are in the album called Egg Drop.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Gay April-8-12

6:22 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We picked up Grandma at 9:00 am and headed for church. After church it was just Grandma, Cheri and me that went out for Easter lunch. Our Life Group all had plans to eat with their families. After lunch we dropped Grandma off at home. Cheri and I went home and changed clothes and took the motorcycle for a ride back to church to watch Michelle Hanson be baptized, she is part of our Life Group. There were several people that got baptized and they had a picnic afterwards. We didn’t stay for the picnic as we had already eaten with Grandma. We rode back home which was a short ride today but still was fun and a perfect day. It had been a week since I was last out with the motorcycle. Cheri and I relaxed the rest of the afternoon watching several TV shows we had recorded and need to get caught up. We even ordered in Pizza for supper, been a long time since we had pizza for supper, it was a real treat. Larry and Denise got Cheri and I each a one pound chocolate Easter bunny to snack on. My question is how can a one pound of chocolate turn into five pounds of body weight? It was announced in church this morning that we had an estimated count of 4500 adults and children at the Bunny Egg-Stavaganza which was twice as many as we had last year. I still have to work on getting the pictures that Denise took uploaded. I was going to work on it this afternoon but it was too easy to put it off for another day.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Gay April-7-12

6:54 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Cheri and I headed for church at 8:30 am to help with the Bunny Egg-Stavaganza. As soon as we got there we each headed for our leaders to get our assignments. Cheri is on Hettie’s team and is helping keep the children out of the area when the helicopter drops the eggs and hands out bags of eggs to anyone that didn’t get any. I was on the parking team and worked the same area that I did last year pointing the cars as they came in to the parking area. After checking in with our team leaders we went in to the church for prayer and breakfast. It takes around 200 volunteers to put on the event. After we eat we headed to our assigned places and were ready for the fun to start. There was one practice egg drop from the helicopter to make sure they were in the right area for the drop. Well it was pretty windy and they missed the drop area and the volunteers had to go and pick them up. They came around again and got the drop right on target. There were three different egg drops an hour apart and there were three different areas for the different age groups of children. The volunteers also scattered eggs before each egg drop to be sure there were eggs covering the whole area. We went through a total of 28,000 eggs. I don’t know how many adults and children came, we will get an update tomorrow in church and I will let you know the results tomorrow. Larry and Denise came and Denise took over 550 picture of the event and gave them to the church. Denise got some really good pictures and I will upload a few of them tomorrow. Thank you Denise for taking the pictures and Larry for helping Cheri with the eggs. I worked on parking cars and I had the counter to see how many cars came in, we parked 741 cars. There were also a lot of people who walked in because they didn’t think there was enough room for them to park. The event was over at 1:00 pm and after the cleanup they had lunch in the church. Cheri and I didn’t stay for lunch as we left to meet Larry and Denise at the Big Top Flea market. Larry had to pick up a few things for his son. Then we went to Bob Evens for a late lunch and early supper. Then a stop at Sam’s for a few things and then headed back to our place to play cards and down load the pictures Denise took today. We played two games of Hand, Knee and Foot. Denise and Cheri won the first game and Larry and I won the last one. It was a nice way to end the day with great friends and serving God.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Gay April-6-12

6:33 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

I was on the road by 8:30 am with the truck driveshaft which just fit in grandma’s van. I was headed to Lakeland to the Driveshaft Specialist to find out if it was out of balance and that might be causing the vibration in the truck. Well as it turns out the driveshaft was ok, so back home I go to install it back in the truck. On the way home I got a call from Larry wanting to know if we wanted to meet them somewhere for lunch and a ride. I told him that I would give them a call after I got the truck back together. When I got home Cheri was doing her spring cleaning and it looked like a tornado was going through the 5^th wheel. She had everything out of the cupboards and doing a deep cleaning. It was after noon before I got the truck back together. It was so windy and looked like rain which we never did get. I called Larry and Denise on Skype and told them that it was too windy to ride today and Denise agreed with me. I was telling Larry about the truck vibration and he asked me if I ever goggled the problem, I never thought about doing that. So after we got done with our call I got on the internet and did a google and found out that it is a problem with all 4500 trucks. I am not sure if that made me feel better or not. Cheri went back to work cleaning and I got some containers to store things that we don’t use very often or not at all. So we are going to do what we can to lighten our 5^th wheel. I am pretty sure we are over our weight limit. We went up to Pam and Mike’s at 5:15 pm and went to Dade City with them for supper and then back to their place to play cards. We played one game of Hand, Knee and Foot. Pam and Cheri won the game which was a very long game and they didn’t show Mike and me any mercy. We also played one game of SOB and then it was time to head home as we have a big day of work tomorrow at church helping with the Bunny Egg-Stavaganza.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Gay April-5-12

6:32 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

It was another work day. Now that all my motorcycle riding buddies are gone I haven’t been doing any riding, I haven’t had the bike out for a week now. Probably is a good thing because I have a lot of work that needs to be done before we leave. I went right to work this morning on removing some of the old caulking and replacing it with new, I got the ends of all the slide outs done. It was around 1:30 pm when I got done, I had enough of the sun for one day. I have needed to get the front wheel balanced on the truck, so this afternoon I took it to Tampa to have that done. The truck has a shake in it around 60 to 65 miles an hour. It has done this pretty much since the truck was new and I always thought maybe I had a bad tire. Well last year before we left for the summer I had new tires put on the front and still had the same problem. So later I had new tires put on the back and still the same problem. So when we got back last fall I took it back to the place where I got the front tires and told him. He had the truck for three days and couldn’t find the problem and gave me back the money I had spent on the balancing the tires and told me about this place in Tampa. Long story short when I left Tampa to go home I still have the same problem. The guy there did tell me about another truck like mine that had the same problem and he ended up taking it to a place to see if it was the driveshaft and sure enough it was out of balance, after he got the driveshaft balanced his problem disappeared. So when I got home I called the place where he took it and they told me to bring it in. They said they couldn’t get me in until next week. But if I took the driveshaft out myself I could bring it in tomorrow. So I crawled under the truck and remove the driveshaft which turned out to be a bigger job than I thought because it is a two piece drive shaft. So tomorrow morning I will be going to Lakeland. I needed a break from working on the 5^th wheel anyways. Cheri worked all day on the illustrations for Nikki’s story book. This evening I got a call from Darren saying if I uploaded my Sky diving video to him he would see what needs to be done to get it uploaded to You Tube. So I loaded it on a flash drive and took it over to Grandma’s to use her computer because she has high speed internet and it would be quicker to do it from there. It still took and hour to get it uploaded. It was after 10:00 pm when I got home and was ready to call it a day.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Gay April-4-12

6:31 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Not much to write about today. I went right to work on the 5^th wheel this morning. I wiped down the slide out roofs so they could dry off from all the dew we had last night. Then I started removing old chalking My plan is to replace all the chalking as there are some places where it is coming off. This afternoon I was able to get the roof coating done, sure glad to have that project done. I did have to take a break and drink some water as I was sweating so much and was starting to get over heated. The high temp for the day was in the high 80”s. It was near 3:00 pm when I finished and decided I had enough for the day. Cheri worked all day on the illustrations for Nikki’s story book that she has written. She is having a hard time with it, but I think she is doing a very nice job of it. We had our Life Group gathering this evening and it was the best one so far. We look forward to each week to spend time with our Life Group friends and learning about the Bible.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Gay April-3-12

6:02 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

I went back to work on the 5^th wheel slide outs this morning and Cheri continued to work on Grandma’s health insurance. We stopped and went down to Larry and Denise’s about 10:30 am to help them close up and get the motorcycle onto the pickup. We sure hate to see them leave but they will be in Clermont for two weeks which is about 50 miles away before they made the trip back to Ontario. They are coming over Saturday so Denise can take pictures of our church Bunny Egg-stravaganza. After Larry and Denise left Cheri went over to Grandma’s to get some more paper work and I went back to work on the 5^th wheel. After lunch Cheri took Grandma grocery shopping and for medicine. I continued working on the slide outs. I finally got all them chalked and ready for the roof coating. I was going to do the coating today but it was getting late and I was too tired to continue. So I went down to Bud and Joyce’s to see them and tell them good bye as they are leaving Thursday morning bright and early for upstate New York. Sure going to miss all my motorcycle riding buddies. When I got back home Cheri was also home and said I needed to go and fill up the van with gas as the low fuel light was on. After supper we settled in to watch TV. We both fell asleep and finally called it a night about 9:30 pm. Cheri didn’t even stay awake to watch the Dancing with the Stars result show. Good thing we recorded it. I know that she will want to watch it first thing in the morning.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Gay April-2-12

6:26 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

We had a busy day. Cheri work most of the day doing laundry, working on Grandma’s health insurance, and taking her for her doctor’s appointment. After she got home she worked some more on Grandma’s paper work until 3:00 pm. I worked on getting the slide out roofs cleaned up and getting them ready for a coat of sealer. That project took me until 1:30 pm. Then I needed to look up a few things on the computer so Cheri could fill out the paper work for Grandma. We didn’t take time for lunch because we were getting together with Larry and Denise for a late lunch and early supper. We picked them up at 3:00 pm with the van as Larry has the motorcycle loaded and ready to leave tomorrow. We drove over to a place that sells storage sheds. I wanted to see how much it would cost for a new one. A few years ago I bought a new one for Grandma and it was $1200 for an eight by ten. Well today the same shed is just over $2000. I guess our old shed looks a lot better than I thought it did. From there we went to Golden Corral for supper. After supper we went back to Larry and Denise’s and played two games of cards and the girls won both games. I think that is the first time that has happened, boy are they happy and have bragging rights. It was around 8:30 pm when we got home and we settled in to watch Cheri’s favorite TV show (Dancing with the Stars).

Monday, April 2, 2012

Gay April-1-12

7:22 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

I don’t know where the time has gone, seems like it was the 1^st of March a couple of days ago. They say time flies by when you are having fun and that we have been doing. We picked up Grandma and took her to church with us and then after church there were eight of us that went out for lunch at Chili’s. After we got home we changed clothes and went down to see Larry and Denise as Denise had a bad headache this morning and didn’t go to church with us. On the way down we stopped by Bud and Verlin Randolph. They have bought a park model in the park and will be putting their motor home in storage. We have been looking to move to a different lot. We have been on the same lot for seven years and really like it here but last year our neighbors put in a concrete drive way that is elevated about a foot and a half on our side and made it very hard to get into our lot last fall. This winter they built a car port over the driveway and now the only way I am going to get out is to pull out the street sign and drive across the lawn of the neighbor across the street. So we have decided to take the lot that Bud and Verlin are on. So we talked to them and I took some measurements to see how our 5^th wheel will fit on the lot. It is a much nicer and larger lot then we have now. They are moving their shed this week and I think I am going to buy a new shed to put on the lot and move everything from ours before we leave for the summer. Our shed is really small and it is a good time to make the change. I think I can also have a nice covered spot for the motorcycle, which would be very nice because it now sits under the awning and doesn’t leave any room to sit outside. We went on over to Larry and Denise’s and Denise was feeling much better. We visited for a while and played one game of golf (cards). Cheri and I hadn’t played it before and was a fun game to play. We left after the one game because I am still not feeling that great and my stomach was acting up. When we got home I took it easy and watched the NASCAR race, I didn’t like the way it ended.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Gay Mar-31-12

6:46 AM |

Posted by Sharp's Travels

Wow, everyone around us has left for the season except for the neighbor across the street. I believe people have left earlier this year, probably because of the nice weather they have been having up north. Cheri, Denise, and Betty left at 9:00 am to go the quilt shop in Dade City for their 30% off on everything in the store. I did a little work around the 5^th wheel and got the motorcycle ready to go for a ride to Sleepy Hollow about 50 miles north of here. We have been there a couple of times this winter. It is just a neat place to go and they have a great steak fry that they do on a grill outside. The girls got back from their shopping spree around 10:30 am and at 10:45 am we were on our way to Sleepy Hollow. We had four bikes in our group today. Our first stop was for all of us to fill up with gas and then we stopped at a motorcycle leather shop. We had been by it before and hadn’t stopped. It did look interesting so today we stopped and checked it out. They had just about anything you would want in the motorcycle clothing line. On the rest of the ride to Sleepy Hollow we had a few sprinkles, so we got our meal and eat right away in case it rained as there isn’t enough room inside for everyone if it rained. After we eat we looked around for a little bit and decided to head for home as it was looking more like rain. Well we got down the road a couple of miles and the sky opened up and it started to rain. It rained all the way home and we were soaking wet by the time we got home. Cheri was cold and took a hot shower to get warmed up. The rest of the afternoon we rested and watched some TV. We were supposed to go down to Larry and Denise’s to play cards this evening but I had bad headache and it made me sick to my stomach, so I called them to tell them we wouldn’t be down. A little later we got a call from Darren, it was good to hear from him as it has been a long time since we have talked. He and Jodi have been really busy at work putting in a lot of extra hours. Darren had bought a new camera and has been taking classes on how to use it to take great pictures, says he is enjoying it.

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