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-Gramps-

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  1. -Gramps-

    The Rally

    By -Gramps-,

    When I write a blog entry about a current trip in our coach, I tend to just write it in a matter of fact style, like the following:
    Well a lot has happened in the last week. Diane and I hosted an FMCA chapter rally at the Deer Creek RV Resort in Galax, Virginia during the last weekend of July. The campground Is located just across the golf course from our home at the Deer Creek Motorcoach resort. Some people call the golf course Derrick's Nine Holes, because I am the person who plays there the most.
    We had fifteen coaches from the Colonial Virginians show up for the rally.
    The rally went great, for the most part. We arrived on Wednesday evening and our fellow Colonial Virginians started arriving on Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning Diane and I did a lot of shopping at the local Wal-Mart (where else would we go?) for lots of stuff to provide a full meal for everyone on Friday night. We left the store with hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, cookies and a lemon cake. Our co-hosts Bob and Stephanie planned breakfast for Saturday and Sunday Mornings. For Saturday morning breakfast, we had French toast sticks, pancakes, sausage, and fruit. Sunday was a continental breakfast with Danish, Bagels and Saturday's breakfast leftovers. Saturday night everyone went to a wine and cheese party at the Deer Creek Motorcoach Resort (Not the one in Florida) clubhouse. That was followed by a pot-luck supper. We had a golf tournament planned for Saturday Morning but due to drizzle and fog we had to cancel. Those who planned on playing didn't mind. We all enjoyed the cool mountain weather, which was a nice change from the terrible heat back home.
    Not much emotion or story in the above. Let me try to add some of that for you.
    I have been working pretty hard lately. No days off for some six weeks and that includes July fourth. Even with all those work days I have still been under quite a bit of stress to get it all my projects done. I know, that seems to be a recurring theme in my blogs: Stress. It seems to be the nature of my business and my nature to let stress sometimes get the best of me. I am working on correcting that. I would like to save the best of myself for my God, my dear wife, my kids, my rving friends as well as other friends and of course, my dog.
    Unfortunately there wasn't much of the best part of me on the day we left for the rally. We pulled out a bit late in the morning, and just as we hit the road I discovered, actually Diane informed me, that she turned off the fridge because it was alarming. There was no propane flowing to it, even though our tank was full. At the same time I discovered that the dash air was not cooling. These two problems started to make me hot. I asked her why she didn't tell me this before we left. She said she didn't want to bother me, I was getting customer calls all morning and she didn't want to add to my problems.
    Add to my problems? No dash air, the propane is not working? How could that add to my problems?
    I knew that the immediate, but temporary solution to this was to turn on the generator. This would allow us to run the fridge and the roof air, but all I could think about is how much is this going to cost me to get these problems fixed? I stared to over think this situation and this fueled my soon to get worse state of mind. After all it was going to be one of the hottest days of the year with no dash ac. I just got back from a long trip to Elkhart to fix the slide and now two more problems. When will it end?
    Maybe my blood sugar was low from skipping breakfast. Maybe I was just worn out from all the work pulling cables through hot fiberglass insulated ceilings for days on end. Maybe it was because this has been a tough year to find work, get it done and then get paid for it. Maybe it was because I was worried about our dog, who was scheduled for surgery the Friday after the rally. Maybe it was all the above.
    I lost it. I ranted about my business, the coach, and only God knows for most of the drive to Galax. Diane, bless her heart, just sat there and hardly said a word. She just let me vent. I don't remember most of what I said. I am sure it wouldn't be worth repeating anyway.
    When we started to climb I-77 just north of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I finally calmed down. I looked over at Diane and apologized for being such a jerk. She had tears running down her cheeks and she managed to mouth the words, "its okay" to me.
    I didn't say another word until we reached the gate to the Motorcoach Resort. Diane pushed the remote, the gate opened, we drove through and it was like a switch was thrown. I started to feel better. We set up "camp". It was after six thirty by the time we finished. We went to dinner with our neighbors Judy and Gordy. They both noticed that I was looking a bit ragged, and Diane calmly told them I had been working hard lately, to put it mildly.
    For most of the night I lay awake thinking about the day's drive.
    The next morning I was swamped with phone calls from multiple offices belonging to one customer. Diane and I were at the Wal-Mart at the time, I was shopping for golf balls when the first call hit me. The problem was not with my equipment, it was with their internet provider. I told them that, but they wanted me to take care of it because they didn't know how to talk to the great big nasty internet company.
    It took me until eleven pm that night making phone calls, but I did get the ball rolling to solve the problem for them.
    Friday I was determined to give all my attention to the rally. I managed to do that. I helped people check in, set up tables, did a bit of decorating, set up a sun canopy and my grill. I cooked forty some hamburgers while Bob did the dogs.
    We had a great meal for everyone. The food was good and the service was quick. Afterwards we talked about the golf and mini golf match, and reminded everyone where Saturday's meal would be served. I was beat and left for the coach while Diane played tiles.
    Saturday's breakfast was great. Saturday's weather wasn't. It rained all day. Actually I think it rained the next three days off and on. I wanted to have the golf match but what's a little rain when you are in the Blue Ridge Mountains? We all made the best of it. Some people went sightseeing; some just sat around and talked. I sat around and listened to the people chat. I wanted to be reminded that the world isn't just about me. That is one of the ways owning a coach has improved my life, by allowing me to be involved in other lives outside of work. It's like medicine to me. I need to remember that.
    Saturday night we had the wine and cheese party. I answered questions about Galax and the surrounding area. I also answered questions about the resort.
    After dinner I provided some minor entertainment. I told them all about my FMCA blog with its rules for owning a motor coach and then I read rule four to them. I will remind you that rule four is "Owing a motor coach is a never ending learning experience". Rule four also includes a bunch of one liner, truisms, that some people find quite funny. Fortunately all the guests at dinner did the same.
    Sunday morning was foggy but not for long. By noon most everyone had left. Everyone said they had a great time and hoped to return next year.
    Monday, August second, was my fifty seventh birthday. The best thing about it was that I wasn't working. We didn't do much that day but sit around the coach, do a bit of walking, and we went to dinner in town. The food wasn't all that good but the company was great.
    The next day Diane and I drove into Sparta North Carolina and found something that we both liked. A store with Columbia clothes on sale for half price. I bought a bunch of nice things. We came home and ate leftover hamburgers, watched a bit of TV and called it a day.
    Wednesday had a different feel about it. Diane wanted to do laundry and clean up the coach a bit. She planned on leaving the next day for Raleigh, NC to stay with her cousin Elaine. From there she would take Nickolas to the NC State School of Veterinary Medicine. Nickolas was scheduled to have a malignant tumor removed from his side. This could be an extensive operation with loss of some chest wall and some sections of ribs.
    I planned on staying behind to work on the Motorcoach resort's WIFI. That was okay by me considering how much I dislike hospital waiting rooms.
    I had already ordered a new high powered access point that hopefully would broadcast to the fartest end of the resort. Diane left with Nickolas just after lunch, so I found myself all alone.
    I made arrangements to borrow an extension ladder and so just after Diane left I was at the top of it mounting the new transmitter. All was going okay until a big thunderstorm came out of nowhere. Lightening chased me off the ladder. The rain started coming down in buckets and then we lost power.
    I managed to mount the transmitter but without power I was done. My WI-FI install would have to wait.
    Fridays are usually pretty quiet for me. Not many phone calls. The Friday of Nickolas surgery was no exception. This was a good thing. I wasn't in the mood to talk much anyway. I thought our pup was going to be in the OR early, but it didn't happen until six that night. He came out around nine. Diane called me to say that everything went well. The doctors wanted to keep him there until Monday. My time in isolation would be a bit longer than expected.
    I didn't do much the next two days. I finished a book, watched some movies, made some minor repairs to the coach roof and unstopped the propane line. That was about it.
    Diane and Nickolas arrived back here at Deer Creek about two hours ago. The poor pup looks a bit scarred and stapled but he is doing well considering.
    We will be here a few more days. We need to give the dog a bit more time to recuperate before we head back to the heat in Tidewater. Once we get there its back to business, the coach will stay parked for a couple more months. I do need to get some Freon for the dash AC.
    Didn't I mention that? According to our resident RV doctor, there is nothing wrong with the dash AC that a good dose of Freon can't fix. It seems I got upset over almost nothing.
    I am working on that.
  2. -Gramps-

    The Richmond RV Expo

    By -Gramps-,

    I have two installments of Eighteen Months to write, but I need a break from it. I feel the need to post something about Motor Coaching.
    Our coach is still stuck in the driveway. Not literally, but figuratively. Weather and time constraints have conspired together to keep it parked right where it is for some two months now without moving an inch. Boy, do I have the itch to (notice the word inch and itch are very close) to get away.
    With the idea that going somewhere is better than nowhere and looking at motorhomes at a show may be better than just staring at ours through the window, we decided to make a day trip to Richmond, Virginia. We made a visit to the 25th annual Richmond Camping and RV Expo at the Richmond Speedway.
    We left around 10 a.m. this past Saturday for our 90-minute drive up north. Just before we finished breakfast it started snowing, again. We spent a few minutes browsing the weather reports online just to make sure we would not get caught in some weather we could not get away from. The reports all said this was just a short snow shower, so we took off with our supply of water, energy bars and dollar-off admission coupons.
    We arrived just at 11:30. We drove through the gate and found ourselves in the Vendors area close to the main entrance. The vendors parking lot was nowhere near full, so based on the number of vehicles around us, I had no real idea if this show would be all that busy.
    We walked through the cold to the ticket booth, paid our sixteen bucks (including our dollar off each) passed through the glass doors, showed our tickets and had the back of our hands stamped with the word FUN in blue ink.
    There were quite a few people there. The main entrance was crowded with people around a tall counter. They were filling out some kind of sweepstakes coupon, the winning prize being twenty five grand, and the consolation prize being a call from a time share organization. I declined to enter the drawing.
    I was more interested in exploring a couple of class A coaches. One was a new small Class A made by Winnebago. The Itasca Reyo (or the Winnie Via) is a 25-foot-long class A with one slide out that due to its size and floor plan feels more like a Class C than an A. The coach we visited was the 25T model. It has twin beds in the back that can be converted to a queen. There is also a queen bed over the cab. The cockpit area, which has a class A view, is lower than the rest of the coach but the chairs can be rotated and raised 6 inches so they become a part of the living area. Good thing too, because there is only one small couch/dinette that serves as seating. Diane and I both agreed that the Reyo appeared to be a well built coach, with a yacht like interior, functional and attractive at the same time. However, it's tight and lacking in storage that she and I are very used to.
    The Reyo is built on the Dodge Sprinter Chassis, normally a C chassis. It is powered by a 154-hp five speed Mercedes diesel which I suspect adds twenty thousand to the overall price.
    The Reyo had a show price tag of 119,000, just a few thousand less than the sale price of my 39-foot rig.
    Parked next to the Reyo was an Itasca Sunstar, an entry level class A, with a one piece windshield and traditional interior styling. It had the fit and finish, with muted colors, and the pleasant interior that Winnebago is known for. I did notice that the basement doors were not the full size flush fit doors, but were the old style hatch covers. That is not a look that I care for all that much.
    Also on display was an Encounter 30SA. The Encounter is Fleetwood's new entry level Class A coach. The Encounter replaces the old Fleetwood Flair. I don't know how Fleetwood manages so many models with multiple floor plans each; then again I don't know how Winnebago does either.
    The Encounter 30SA appears to be a comfortable coach. The coach body was standard, no full body paint, and like the Sunstar, the retro look basement doors. It is what Diane calls a side isle coach with the bed, bath and kitchen all on the curb side of the coach. The dinette and the fridge are in the main slide out on the road side. We would have given this coach a lot of consideration when we first shopped for one, if it had been available then. It had a show price tag of 88,000 which I considered a very good price. I heard more than one visitor to the coach saying they thought it would sell quickly at that price.
    Across from the Encounter was a Tiffin Allegro Open Road, a Four Winds Hurricane and a Tiffin Phaeton. The Hurricane is a nice coach. A bit plain on the outside but pleasant on the inside. Nice big dining booth, pull out bar, a comfortable coach. The Phaeton was the highest end coach at a show obviously geared to mostly entry level rvers and as a result the coach was crowded with curious lookers, not shoppers. It was a nice coach, no doubt about that, good looking woodworking, wonderful choice of fabrics and colors, great lighting (and that is important to me) and with four slide outs, plenty of room. The only thing that left a bad impression was a bit of wood framing on the ceiling. It really didn't add to the overall look of the interior.
    I finally made my way out of the Phaeton and visited the Allegro Open Road. Maybe I should have visited them in reverse. I was not overwhelmed by the Open Road. It is a good entry level coach, particularly for families with kids. It has a bunk bed option and with most of the floor space covered in vinyl, dirt and water being tracked into the coach is not a big problem. I think a bit more ambient lighting and a few more mirrors or pictures would warm it up a bit. This coach was built on a Ford Chassis.
    We took a look into a couple of Born Free Class Cs. Nice rigs but a bit pricey.
    That brings up an observation. There were not a lot of Class As at this show. The majority of the Class A coaches on display were in the 30 to 34 ft range. As I mentioned the Tiffin Phaeton was the highest end new coach there. Camping World had a couple of used late model Monacos on display, a Knight and a Diplomat.
    There was also one new Meridian parked outside the main entrance. All the gas class As except one were built on the Ford Chassis. The one exception was a Damon Challanger (nice coach with comfortable interior) built on a Workhorse chassis and that coach had a sold sign on it.
    There were a lot of sold signs on trailers. More than I remembered seeing last year. I took the opportunity to chat with one exhibitor and he informed me that the show was one of the hardest to stage, due to the snowy weather, but it was a very busy show with many serious shoppers. He said sales were much better than last year, not only at the show but for the year as well.
    I gathered from him and from others I spoke to, that the RV market was showing signs of recovery. The RV industry may be recovering, but it has also changed. The dealers were not pushing large coaches. The show was packed with trailers. The show gave the strong impression that the dealers believe the RV market now wants smaller, less expensive, kid friendly RVs be they trailers or coaches.
    We visited the vendor area, chatted with some campground and resort folks, and then grabbed an overpriced lunch before visiting the second building. We caught the shuttle bus, and found out it would have quicker to walk. This building belonged to one dealer exhibiting Forest River, Four Winds, Damon and Winnebago products. It was packed with trailers and there were about 25 coaches, equally divided between As and Cs with a couple of fancy Bs.
    We visited two or three Damon Challengers. All were pretty basic coaches, not bad.
    We left the show around 3 p.m. and made our way home. We stopped at Outdoor World in Hampton just to see if anything was on sale and then we visited BJ's wholesale nextdoor.
    By the time we arrived back home, we were beat. The rest of the evening was devoted to Pizza and the Olympics, although I think I have seen all the snow I care to look at.
  3. -Gramps-
    I suspect that some of you that have read my first three lessons are thinking that getting deeper into digital photography and purchasing a DSLR is just TOO much. It is too complicated and too expensive. Why bother when my cell phone or inexpensive point and shoot camera works just fine?
    Well, it all depends on what you want from the experience of shooting pictures. If I can use an analogy, you can take a vacation, stay in a hotel in a great location that you drove or flew to, or you can travel there in a coach and really get to know the place while still feeling at home. Okay, maybe that isn't a great analogy…but it is true.
    A DSLR and its ability to control the exposure and the array of lenses it offers opens up a whole new world for you to see and record. With the right equipment you can throw yourself into it. You can think big, wide, small.
    Imagine you are walking in the woods near a campground in the mountains. You worked hard to make the time and the money to get there and now you are experiencing the first day in a long time that you don’t have to think about work, taxes, and bills. Your camera is hanging around your neck, the birds are singing, the sun is making interesting shadows on the path in front of you. Just stop and look, turn around slowly…what do you see? Look down at the path, what is growing there? Stoop down; look closer! What do you see? Imagine looking at anything you see from a different angle, from below or behind, and if you can move there, look through the viewfinder, take a breath, and press the button! What do you see? What do you think of the image you just captured? How does it make you feel? Did you see the picture before you took it? No? You will. Do you think it is a good picture? Do you want to make it better? You will.
    Lesson Four,
    Using Your Eyes and The Rule of Thirds
    The rule of thirds is not really a rule. It is really more of a guideline. Look at any photograph. Now imagine a grid on top of it. This grid is like a tic-tac-toe board. It is composed of nine squares all the same size. When you compose a picture, you will give it greater impact if you place the subject at the intersection or lines of these squares.
    For example: you are shooting a sunset. You look through your viewfinder; the sun is dead in the middle of the screen. Don’t leave it there. Move the sun to the right third or the top third of the frame before you take the shot. You might move it to the bottom third to show more sky. In other words don’t just focus and shoot, let go and move the camera before you take the picture. Think about what you are looking at. Don’t always keep the horizon or a person’s eyes dead in the middle of the picture. Notice I used the word always, I didn’t say never.
    Look closely at the following pictures. Image the nine square grid on each one. What is the main point of interest of each one? What attracts your eye first? If the picture has a horizon, where is it?





    Like many rules, the Rule of Thirds is made to be broken, but I suggest that it is better to really know a rule before you decide to not use it.
    The rule of thirds was first written down over two hundred years ago by artist John Thomas Smith, who thought the rule should be applied to the balance of light and dark in a picture more than content. It proved to be a very hard rule to follow for painters, but photographers learned to use it to improve composition. They, we, use it to place emphasis on light, angles of perception, and strong points of interest.
    This rule makes a picture easier to look at because it takes advantage of how people view images. It takes advantage of natural lines. Those lines are there. A sunset has lines; a flower garden has them, as does a person or group of people. Using this guideline helps to balance the picture, which makes the whole frame help tell your story.
    Can you see in the pictures below how the RoT was used to make the photographer (me) think outside the frame and create a better picture?


    The change in perspective does not have to be as dramatic to still make an impact.

    Just a simple zoom out and a bit of a pan to the right, move the "subject" to the left third:

    The rule of thirds doesn't have to be obeyed or used at the time you take the shot. You can also use it later by editing the picture. Notice the dramatic change in these two pictures.


    The Rule of Thirds is a guideline to help you think and see sideways, to get you to see "outside the box." The ROT helps you with your composition to change your perspective, and to use the lines that naturally occur in the shot. However, we have only scratched the surface, both with this lesson and the previous three.
    Next lesson ...Composition! Using, Stretching and Breaking both Depth of Field and the Rule of Thirds.
    http://community.fmca.com/blog/62/entry-1396-compose-the-picture/
    Gramps
  4. -Gramps-
    Another lesson about my passion...Digital Photography. Its been awhile but take a look you might see something you like, or something that makes you just a bit hungry!
    http://www.myrandomviews.com/blog/2015/5/7/the-grocery-store-a-visual-exercise
     
     
  5. -Gramps-

    The Tango

    By -Gramps-,

    Before Diane and I became Motorhome owners, and before my son entered college, we were avid cruisers. This is the story of our first one, which took place a bunch of years ago. This story, which I wrote years ago, will take up some blog space until next week when we shall once again hit the road in our UFO and I write about it.
    THE TANGO
    My wife Diane is always collecting stories and anecdotes from people. For years if she hears something interesting from somebody she will tell me about it. She will cut things out of the newspaper or a magazine and stick it on the refrigerator door for me to find. She also reads me e-mail. Just the other day she found a piece of mail that her cousin Elaine sent her months ago. Somehow it ended up in some pc desktop folder somewhere and she overlooked it. She found it just the other day, the same day she was told that her mother has Alzheimer's Disease.
    God woke a man during the middle of the night and told him that he would find a very large rock in his front yard. God told the man to get up and push it. The man wanted to do what God told him so he went outside and started pushing the rock. He pushed with his hands, his back and with his legs. He gave it everything he had but the rock would not move, not one little bit. For hours everyday he would push it.
    One night while lying in bed, exhausted from all the pushing, the devil came to him and said, "Why do you bother, you have not moved that rock at all. You are nothing but a failure."
    The man thought about this and complained to God. "Hey God what about it? I have pushed that rock for months now and it still sits there! Why tell me to move it when I can't?"
    God answered, "I never said anything about moving the rock, I told you just to push it. You can't move the rock. Only I can move it ... but now your legs are stronger, your back is stronger, your hands are tough and calloused …now you are no longer weak."
    My wife is strong. For years the rock that she pushed looked a lot like my head. We have been through some tough times, many of them Derrick-inflicted. I choose to be driven by a need to be successful in business (so driven that I took our savings and put them into a cash bleeding business without telling her) as opposed to being successful as a husband and father. But Diane keep pushing. One night God moved the rock.
    In May 1985, Diane spent four weeks in the hospital pregnant with our son Joel. She developed acute toxemia along with high blood pressure and spent most of those four weeks laying on her right side with the rails up on her bed and just over her head, a tongue depressor taped to the wall. At the end of three weeks Joel was delivered early by Caesarian section. He entered into this world with a very bad set of lungs. After delivery Diane's blood pressure shot up so high, it put her on the edge of a stroke. I could have lost them both.
    God took the rock from her and put it in my court, so to speak. In the span of one night I started to remember what was most important in my life, Diane and my kids. That night, I did a lot of pushing, or should I say praying? My son, who is now a champion cross-country runner, and my wife recovered. I started to recover but it took a while. I sold the business two years later; it also took me awhile to realize it was not much of a loss.
    So, Diane and I continued our cruise called life together, and this day found ourselves on this nice white ship ....
    We played a few more games of shuffleboard. She approaches the game with a lot of patience and moves the puck gracefully to the end of the court. Me, I slam the thing like Osama himself is my opponent and I want to tear his toes off, thus the phrase 10 OFF. "Not so hard" she says, hopping around on her left foot after failing to yield to a flying red disk. "For Pete's sake, it's only a game not a missile launching," So we went to the game room and tried our hand at Scrabble, where this time she beat the pants off me.
    Later that afternoon we went poolside to catch a few rays and a few hamburgers and check out a snorkeling demonstration. We planned to snorkel on our own at Playa Del Carmen the next day and at Cozumel with a group (including our tablemates Blair and Larry) the day after that. We hung around the pool for awhile, watched a few guys shoot skeet. Some of the shooters were a bit Coronafied so the clay pigeons were in no real danger. "Pull!" BANG! "**** I missed!" was often heard as the afternoon progressed. I was surprised to see how tall and how many drinks were being served. I was also surprised that the pool was full of saltwater.
    We did not stay around the pool too long. Diane "convinced" me that we would have fun taking a ballroom dance lesson in the Disco. I knew how to dance, well I could move anyway and do whatever it was that we did in the early 70's that we called dancing. We headed back to our cabin, grabbed a quick spritz, you could hardly call that thing a shower, changed and headed up to the Disco.
    We were the first potential students in the disco. There was a small couple there that looked to be quite a bit older than Diane and I. The woman was arranging chairs around the small dance floor and the man (who I couldn't help noticing was wearing a bad toupee) was setting up a portable record player on a table. We said hello and found them to be very animated and friendly. We made introductions all around. Their names were Lenny and Thelma. More people arrived so Lenny and Thelma suggested that to get things rolling they would demonstrate the dance that they were about to teach. Lenny started the record player and over the first few recognizable notes of the music announced in dramatic fashion that we were, in one lesson, going to become masters of "THE TANGO"….. Oh boy. It begins like this; the Man steps forward, woman steps backward.
    I watch them carefully. They seemed to know the proper steps but something seemed wrong. It did not look exactly like any Tango I had seen done on TV or in the movies, but of course that is not real life. We were on a cruise ship, which is closer to real life… right? STEP,STEP,STEP,,,SLIDE.,, STEP,STEP,STEP,SLIDE…I whispered to Diane that it looked like they were trying not to step in something nasty, getting in it anyway and then wiping their feet on the floor trying to get it off.. She told me to shut up. STEP, STEP, STEP, SLIDE, STEP, STEP,,DIP. Thelma received a halfhearted backwards bend from her partner. I think Lenny was afraid that if he bent over too far his toupee would end up on her nose. I thought to myself do I really want to learn this? "Yes you are going to do this with me" I forgot that Diane reads half empty minds. Out on the floor we went.
    Some frustrated minutes and bruised toes later we finished our lesson. It was my opinion, that trying to learn the Tango as one's first attempt at ballroom dancing coupled with the fact that the dance floor moved on its own every now then seemed a bit hard if not downright silly.
    Diane loved it, so it is just possible that my opinion was all wet.
    We finished our lesson, gave our thanks to our instructors and headed off to afternoon tea. Now that was something that I could handle without a lesson.
    Afternoon tea was great, lots of horse-d-ovaries, canapés and things like that. Dinner was only two and half hours away so Diane nibbled. I stuffed myself. Afterwards we strolled below to our cabin to get dressed for the first formal night.
    Diane wore a very attractive light blue and pink silk dress with a simple string of pearls and flat shoes. I put on my best suit, (it happened to be kaki colored) white shirt, tie and leather soled shoes. It did not take us long to change so we had some time to kill before dinner. Diane suggested we go up to the ballroom and practice what we had learned at our Tango lesson….oh boy. Sure why not. She smiled and headed up the stairs. I head down, reluctantly followed.
    Well, folks I tried, I really did. We must have been working at it for about thirty minutes
    when I did it, I creamed Diane's left foot. I mortally wounded those perfect little toes of hers. At the moment of impact tears came to all our eyes. "Oooooowwwww!"
    Off came her shoe and she limped to the nearest chair and set down hard. I expected her to heave her shoe at my head but she held on to it and her temper.
    I was just about to make an emphatic apology when I heard a male voice behind me say "Could you use some help?" I turned around to see a handsome older couple standing by the edge of the dance floor. He was a tall man wearing an obviously custom made tuxedo with a hand tied (at the moment untied) tie and she, much shorter than him, was wearing gold lame' evening slacks with an elegant orange blouse and matching fingernail polish. He reminded me of Tony Bennett and she looked like Janet Leigh, the way she looked in 1987. I don't remember their names so I will Call them Tony and Janet.
    Diane, who by this time was worried that I might turn her toes into something that resembled Vienna Sausages, of course said "Yes, we would appreciate any help you can give us." She never asked what kind of help he was offering. We introduced ourselves.
    "I see you must have taken Lenny's Tango lesson today." I nodded yes. Tony continued. "Well, Lenny is a very nice man"
    "His hair isn't" Janet interjected. Tony smiled, so did I
    "As I was saying, Lenny and Thelma are very nice people, but they have no business giving dance lessons. For some reason Lenny thinks he can, and the captain lets him because he cruises on this ship about sixteen times a year. He practically lives here….anyway, let Janet and I show you how the Tango should be done."
    He took her by the hand and the waist, and immediately she seemed to grow a foot taller. He stepped forward, no change that, he glided forward she moved back and across the floor they moved like mercury. No music, not a sound except the smooth rustling of their clothes. They moved as one, smooth and fluid …..one two three, one two three
    This is how to dance the tango!
    Feel the blood rise to your face
    with every beat;
    while an arm winds like a snake
    around a waist that is about to break.
    This is how to dance the tango
    and I swore their feet never came off the floor, like they were ice skating. I was amazed.
    Somewhere I read that the Tango has beat, impact and nuances. It is not a soft wave turned into music, it is the deepest dance in the world.
    Tony and Janet walked over to us. '' Now we show you" Tony took Diane by the waist and Janet took my hand and said….
    "The Tango is a dance of seduction. The man must lead, he must lead forcefully, he steps forward the woman steps backward, and you move like water across the floor. And you move as one okay?. Now take my waist and lead me. No do not look at your feet. You cannot seduce a woman by looking at her feet, you must look her deep in the eyes, again!….good, good now you are catching on''
    I thought I must have been terrible. Tony said "you know Janet and I watched you too dancing last night, you are very good together even when doing it wrong. You should take lessons. Well, we enjoyed it. Derrick, we will see you on the dance floor tonight eh?"
    I nodded yes. "Good, I may ask to dance with your beautiful wife again."
    The announcement came over that Main Seating was now being served.
    I had completely forgotten about dinner. Can you believe that?
    Now you may have noticed that this story seemed to be missing a beggining. That is so. Therefore before I tell you more about the Tango let me start from the very beginning. Originally it was written for a cruise blog and took days. You get the pleasure of reading it all at once!
    The Railing
    I am writing this while on hold with the Virginia Dept of Taxation in order to stop collections proceedings for a business tax bill that I have already paid and the check has cleared the bank. This is something that I have to do at least once a year. I keep hearing the same hold announcements over and over again along with Grazing in the Grass. It is in moments of stress like these that I imagine myself back on the deck of a cruise ship.
    In October of 1987, to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, my wife Diane and I went on our first cruise. It was a present from her father and it could not have come at a better time. For the previous four years I ran a start up telecommunications company that I was part owner of. In spite of, or because of, the fact that I gave it fifteen hours out of most days, I was not able to get it off the ground. So in June of that year my partners decided to sell it. I went to work for the very old, and very well set in their ways, family owned company that bought it. My going to work for them was part of the purchase agreement. The transition from boss to upper level manager was a little rough so I needed a vacation even if I didn't think so myself.
    We gave a lot thought to the cruise in the days leading up to it. Planning as a WE is one of the best consequences of cruising. What documents do we bring. What do we wear. What excursions do we take. We had not been a We in a while. We is good.
    The first day was a long one. The flight to Miami was fun, the embarkation was fun. Watching the other cruise ships leave with ours was fun. Our ship was the Chandris Galileo. She was a 28,000 ton dazzling white beauty with a big blue X on her stack.
    We found our little orange carpeted cabin with the RV like bathroom, explored the ship, held hands, more than we had in years, had an unbelievable dinner, went dancing, went to bed. I was beginning to feel like a new man. After Diane went to sleep I went up on deck for a solitary stroll. I walked aft to a part of the Promenade deck that jutted out over the sea. I turned around and faced forward. Completely alone, I could see down the whole length of the ship. The sky was full of stars. The ocean was a luminous deep blue. In the distance was the lighted outline of our companion cruise ships. The only sound was a divine mixture of the wind, the sea, and the thrum of the ship. I held on to the cool smooth mahogany, closed my eyes and just stood there with the warm 18 knot wind in my face. I remembered something. A verse. "He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul."
    I could taste salt. It may have been the spray or it might have been tears. Maybe a bit of both.
    Night and Greek Sunrise
    I did not sleep much that night. A more accurate way of phrasing it would be I stayed awake well that night. I crawled back into bed with Diane, which was a tight fit since we were sharing a single bed. (Our cabin had an upper berth and two lower beds but I never asked if they could be converted into one.) I laid there, while gently rocking, listening to the sounds around me. Our outside cabin was on the lowest passenger deck and as a result the sound of the ocean was quite strong. There was also a regular creak like a rocking chair accompanied by a clicking noise as the ship moved back and forth then up and down. Creak click, creak, click. In the pale light from our large porthole I could see that the bathroom door latch was a bit loose. ( If I left the door open it would inform us just how much the ship was listing). The motion, the ocean, the creak, muffled steps down the corridor, my wife's baby like snoring, all told me that the ship was alive and breathing. It was one of the most peaceful nights of my adult life.
    Sometime before the first gray-blue light of morning I was jostled awake by a very attractive Greek woman rolling across me on her way out of our bed. I awoke to the pleasant sight of Diane in her Adam and Eve nightgown falling to the cabin floor with one brown barefoot trapped in the corner of the blanket. She gave her tootsies a liberating yank, at the same time informing me that we had a dawn to catch. Seeing the dawn was not the first thing on my activity list and I raised an inquiring eyebrow. She was literally hopping into her shorts, at the same time telling me No!, we are going to see the dawn, get dressed! Not being completely stupid I obeyed and then grabbed my Minolta.
    I watched Diane's backside (couldn't help myself) as we headed up to the Lido Deck or the Promenade Deck, or the Captain's Deck, one of those decks just in time to see a very distant dark white cloud show the first sign of a new paint job. I steadied my camera on the rail and did not have a long wait for God to put on a very good light show. It was glorious. I happened to look to me left and in the distance an ever enlarging Island was exhibiting its own amazing color changes. The Island of Key West seemed to be sailing toward us at the same time we were moving toward it. I looked at the Sunrise shining on my Greek Girl's smiling face. There was only one thing to say
    What's for Breakfast?!
    The Promenade Deck (sit down and eat your prunes)
    "Sir, breakfast in now being served for first seating in the dining room and the breakfast buffet is on the Promenade Deck."
    I turned around and there was a young lady in white shorts and a yellow shirt with a Staff badge on that said Juli no e. I thanked her.
    Breakfast on the Promenade Deck. Made me feel special. The Promenade Deck. The Lido Deck. The Captain's Deck. The MAIN Deck. All these names have a certain old fashioned charm and romantic quality about them. They remind me of the days before the big war (I wasn't there) or even earlier when gigantic 45,000 to 75,000 ton cruise ships crossed the Big Pond on a regular basis. The Mauritania, The Queen Mary, The France, the United States (for years she was dejectedly docked close to my home, Her once magnificent red stacks peeling sheets of paint. It was hard to keep my eyes off her as I made my morning commute). The United States and the others were iron ships with hearts made of brass, mahogany and teak. In those days three types of people sailed on cruises. First Class, Second Class, and Human Baggage. But all were excited at the first shout of "AMERICA". I love those deck names. I missed them when Diane and I were on Explorer of the Seas. I know they can be confusing. One of the comments I heard most often on the Carnival Sensation was "I don't know why I have to go Down to get to the Upper Deck!" Half the time I could not remember where our cabin, M44, was. I now know M stands for Main, I thought it meant Mine. Just kidding. But I digress.
    We ran down the stairs (in true maritime stairs are called ladders) one deck. We ran like we were kids trying to pass each other. We skidded up to the buffet and came to a shocked stop. I had never seen anything like it in my life. There was this huge white cloth covered table on the bleached wooden deck of this white ship with the brightest blue sea in the background covered with more breakfast food than any 50 teenage boys could possible eat. And the things they did with watermelons. They were carved in the shape of a grinning Indian with an eagle feather in his hair, a coiled snake, a woven basked with a handle, all done in one piece, and a huge vase of watermelon roses. Diane immediately said "Don't touch anything" She knows me. There were five or six members of the kitchen staff in their white coats and stiff Chef hats standing at attention behind the table, with its stacks of china plates, bowls, cups and saucers, all monogrammed with a gold X in the middle of a gold sunburst . The Chefs had omelet pans, tongs, and carving knifes drawn like sabers to fight off the evil of an empty stomach. Sausage, salmon, bagels, kiwi fruit, (I had no idea what that hairy little thing was) pomegranates, bananas, polenta, white fish, herring, olives (at least 10 kinds) French fries, home fries, hash browns, iced wine buckets with all kinds of juices including pomegranate juice, (for Gods sake how many seeds did that take), Mimosas (I still like those) and the pastries, they were piled up in a basket 3 foot high. Also Eggs Benedicts, Waffles, Inch thick French toast with powdered sugar, and scrambled eggs. I dug in.
    I had some kind of I can't believe all this spasm and jostled a little elderly lady's elbow in line in front of me. She was balancing a heavy china plate on which set a matching bowl full of stewed prunes.
    "Sorry," I said "can you believe all this food, and look at the watermelons, and..and that ship it's made of ice. I'll be damned.!"
    The little lady, prune bowl skating madly on her plate, craned her neck and squinting in the morning light looked up at me.
    "Young man I suggest you sit down and eat Your prunes! And I would like to eat mine!"
    She seemed upset so I didn't want to tell her that I hated prunes.
    Diane said she thought I should do what the lady suggested.
    "But I don't like prunes."
    Now we all know that the food on cruises is included but when your are married to someone who is very careful with money, clips coupons, and has three small kids, a husband that is six foot tall and weighs 140 pounds because he has the metabolic rate of a blast furnace, the next line in this story should come as no surprise
    "Then you shouldn't take what you're not going to eat."
    I looked at my plate, on it was a lot of stuff including smoked salmon ,olives, cream cheese, ham, those hairy brown things, a mound of scrambled eggs, which made the perfect nest for a large number of stewed prunes.
    I guess I should have paid more attention.
    Scrambled eggs
    We sat down at a table next to the railing. The sun was so bright and so hot and felt so good. Two happy people, to huge plates of food, two large wet glasses of iced orange juice glistening in the sun. As part of a pre cruise plan we deliberately ate slowly.
    "Enjoying your eggs?" Diane asked.
    Being to polite to answer with my mouth full, I gave her a grateful nod.
    "Good" She leaned closer for emphasis. "Eat it all, Stick Man."
    This was not a reference to the philosophical comment she made earlier about my prunes (at the moment sunbathing on the extreme edge of my plate) No, this comment was a not so veiled reference to a part of the same pre cruise plan. A plan she hatched on the plane down to Miami.
    We were in our seats admiring our new sneakers. (buying new sneakers, preferably Reeboks because we are stockholders, has become one of our pre cruise traditions . We buy them weeks before and don't wear them until the first day of the cruise. It's good to have a fresh set of tires when you plan to put a lot of quick miles on them}. Diane leaned over for emphasis of course and said "We need to fatten you up, we also need to relax so the plan is: rest a lot, read a lot, eat a lot, enjoy it, don't inhale it." Yes Dear. I was too thin. While running "the business" I found most meals to be inconvenient unless they were business related. I skipped breakfast, ate lunch at my desk, and most nights I arrived home so late that I had to eat alone or not at all. I more times than not, choose not at all. I had earned Diane's nickname for me "Stick Man". I was fortunate that she was still sticking with me. I owe her a lot including the fact that I can enjoy scrambled eggs.
    Before marrying Diane I hated them. My brother and I liked fried eggs. My mom did not like to cook. My dad did. My mom had to cook when Dad was out at sea. She could manage a few things, She made a mean fried chicken, fried hamburgers, fried green tomatoes, fried bacon, fried eggs. She fixed eggs the way her father liked them. Over Very Easy in bacon grease. Not bad actually, with home fries, and hot coffee sipped from a saucer. My grandfather obviously knew about heat displacement relative to surface area. This was a good cooling technique but I would not suggest using it in the My Fair Lady Dining Room.
    Back to my Mom and her eggs. . If the yolk broke the egg was no good and deserved to be punished. Attack it viciously with a fork and scramble it to death! Waste Nothing! Serve its confused and stringy remains to the boys, they will live! I had a hyper active adolescent gag reflex. Breakfast could get very ugly. Mom could get very mad. You get the picture.
    On October 9 1972 a Monday Morning that will live in infamy Diane my new bride who I loved very much was standing in our rented orange kitchen fixing scrambled eggs for her new hubby's breakfast. She called me and I came down the stairs to find this beautiful long legged Greek Girl with raven black hair that she could sit on trying to poison me. I had two choices I could refuse to eat this and risk a divorce or eat it and risk death. I chose death.
    She stood there in her baby dolls with this look on her face that only a woman can get when she has just fixed her man, now her new husband, his first meal (or his last).
    "Isn't this nice." I said.
    They did look edible, fluffy and yellow with what's this? Onions and green peppers and no bacon grease dripping from my fork. Oh well, life is an adventure and then you die.
    I took a small bite, and then a very big bite. I'm Alive! I'm Alive! Thank God almighty my wife can cook!
    THE TWO KEYS
    I am sitting at my quickly becoming obsolete computer (hey as long as it works for me) listening to Diana Krall. She is singing a good song that goes with this rambling, review- memoir, thing that I'm writing.
    How Deep is the Ocean (How High is the Sky)
    How much do I love you?
    I'll tell you no lie.
    How deep is the ocean?
    How high is the sky?
    How many times a day
    Do I think of you?
    How many roses are sprinkled with dew?
    How far would I travel
    just to be where you are?
    How far is the journey
    from here to a star?
    And if I ever lost you
    how much would I cry?
    How deep is the ocean?
    How high is the sky?
    Diane has taught me one of the keys to enjoying life and it works for cruising as well. Just roll with it. Don't be afraid to try something new (ESCARGO), don't let a past unpleasantness (refer to above egg discription) dictate your future attitude. Believe me. we have had to practice this mantra on more than one occasion. (story may follow at some point)
    There was no unpleasantness on this trip; we just let the Good Times Roll.
    We finished breakfast and began wandering around the outside of the ship waiting for our tender group number to be called. The tender from Key West was small. It looked like a Zodiac boat. So we had some time to kill before we could head for the island. The first thing I noticed was now that the ship was at anchor there were crew hanging all over her. Blue overalls were in lowered lifeboats with long handled white paint rollers, they were hanging out the portholes with rust chippers. Crew were clinging to the stack like big blue bugs with paint brushes. The never ending Battle against Rust and Corrosion was once again in full engagement. Ship Shape is the order of the Day!
    All the ships that we have cruised on have been in tip top shape. The Enchantment of the Seas had more people polishing the deck than they had passengers walking the deck (at 3 o'clock in the morning). I was afraid that if I stood in one place for too long someone with a Royal Caribbean badge would wipe me down. Ship Shape means something on these ships. It's great! If you make a mess someone else picks it up (not at home) At dinner if you don't like it send it back! (Don't try that at home!) If you want more just ask for it! (at home it depends on what your asking for) Relax! Enjoy! You are now out there, not back there!… Oh…I'm sorry…. didn't mean to get carried away, but we only have forty or so more days to go till our next one. (at the time I wrote this)
    We played a couple of games of shuffleboard ( best two out of three-I'm a shuffleboard shark, Diane didn't know that, she lost a big bet, but I can't tell you what the payout was, this is a family forum) We heard our number called so we went below, out to the tender dock on the opposite side of the boat from the island. The tender zoomed around the ship. At this distance she looked absolutely enormous. I started snapping pictures like crazy, Around we went and then the island came into view. We held hands, would you look at that Jimmy Buffets place. Neat.
    Now let's review our Plan: relax, go slow, don't inhale it. To **** With That! We had exactly 3 hours and 42 minutes to see the whole island of Key West ... Run!
    What's that over there? Hey would you look at that, is that a zucchini tree? Oh I thought they grew in trees. That shop looks cool lets go over there! Why? I forgot to pack my swimsuit. I set it out for you stupid! That one looks great on you. No it doesn't make your legs look skinny, your legs are skinny. I'm thirsty, we gotta grab a cup of that red stuff over there, I don't care if it cost 4 dollars, time is money! I want a picture of that. Hold Still! Are you trying to take a picture of it or me? Where is Hemingway's house?, I know it must be around here somewhere. Let me have that map, you have never been able to read a map. Here it is. How do you know? I don't see a sign. It must be, look at all the people standing in front of it. They are lost too. Man, its almost time to head back and I'm hungry. Hungry? You should have eaten your prunes. I don't like prunes. Wait, Derrick, Derrick look mother of pearl earrings exactly like the necklace you bought me in San Francisco, can we buy them, please?, please? Diane, if they make you happy get them, have anything that you want. You mean it? We didn't bring a lot of money you know. Diane this is a once in a lifetime trip get them. Oh, I love them, thank you. Kiss, Kiss, gotta go.
    We made it back to the ship and I really was hungry. As for the prunes, I figured I was better off without them. Key West was a moving experience good enough for me (sorry couldn't resist).
    After the Second Tango Lesson
    We left the ballroom and headed to the dining room. Larry and Blair were already seated and Enzo was patiently waiting for us. We sat down. My hope was that the dinner conversation would be better than it was on the first night. The first night consisted of introductions, where froms, airline critiques, and things like that. Tonight we got to the what do you dos. Larry became a little deflated when I informed him that I owned my own company and had recently sold it. I guess he was overwhelmed because he thought I was a mucho successful business owner. He perked up when my wife told him that I had to sale or go bust. With pride, he told me that he was in the hardware distribution business. He seemed to deflate again when Blair translated that to mean he worked in his father's hardware store. I found that interesting and told him so. I also told him that I earned the money to pay for the technical school that I had attended by working for a summer in a hardware store. That's nice, he said.
    Actually the summer I spent working at Reynolds's True Value Hardware was a good one. I learned about good and bad customer service. I learned that there are both good and bad customers. I learned that they are called wing nuts not butterfly nuts. (There is a joke there but never mind) I learned how to rip plywood, thread pipe, avoid a mad female Doberman, assemble lawn mowers, bicycles, and all kinds of lawn furniture. I also learned how to demonstrate and sell portable washer and dryers, pop up campers, power tools and vacuum cleaners. I learned that anything sold to the maritime industry is expensive because they need it in a hurry, and it needs to be made of brass.
    Of course when I worked there I had no idea that I would one day make good money traveling around the world installing phone systems on ships. That's one of the things I do now. They are expensive and there is some brass involved. And they usually need them in a hurry, even when it means traveling to Diego Garcia.
    Tonight I ordered the Prime Rib and a good bottle of wine to share. The wine seemed to make dinner a little more enjoyable. We chatted for a while, drank for a while, ate dessert, finalized our plans for the next day and headed off to the Fantasy Lounge to try out our new Tango skills.
    As soon as we walked into the lounge, Tony and Janet spotted us and waved us over to two seats next to them. We sat down and not being drinkers ordered a couple of Virgin Coladas. The drinks arrived, they where not Virgins. After a couple of sips we didn't care.
    Janet tapped Diane on the knee and pointed to the dance floor. Our first instructors Lenny and Thelma were there doing their thing. Janet said they looked like a couple of strutting pigeons. The description seemed quite accurate to me.
    Tony asked me if he could dance with Diane, and of course I said sure. Tony offered Diane his arm and they walked to the floor. Tony then said something to the band leader and a couple of seconds later the band started playing the Tango. Diane and Tony glided across the floor like they had been dancing together for years. It looked magical. Thelma and Lenny, they looked, well they looked like they had been strutting together for years.
    The dance ended, Diane and Tony, who seemed to be limping slightly, sat back down. I then found out that Tony was a professional dancer and dance instructor. He had danced musical theatre and also owned a number of dance studios. He retired from dancing professionally after breaking his ankle in a car accident. Now his and Janet's full time job was cruising. He also told me that if the conditions were just right, his ankle would quit hurting and allow him to glide across the floor once more. Twice today the conditions had been just right.
    I think Diane was flattered. She should be.
    She and I danced until the place closed. We then went for a walk and sometime in the AM went to bed in our single bunk. It was a tight fit, which after a few minutes became even tighter.
    The next day while at Playa del Carmen we were entertained by the crew. They challenged us (the passengers) to volleyball, horseshoes, and tug of war. They let go of the rope during that contest. My butt was bruised for days when I landed on somebody's knee. I also received very good sunburn that day. I slept in the other bunk that night. Diane was disappointed I'm sure.
    I never finished the story of this cruise ... so to be continued, maybe.
  6. -Gramps-

    The Thankmas Party

    By -Gramps-,

    The Thankmas Party and the Christmas Bash
    Well, the weekend of November 20 was another short but nice trip. Diane, Nickolas and I, took off at about three o'clock on a Friday for North River Campground near the southern end of the Dismal Swamp in Currituck, North Carolina. We headed for our annual Good Sam's local chapter combination Christmas and Thanksgiving party; our Thankmas party. It is something we look forward to each year. It was supposed to have happened the weekend before at Camp Hatteras but the Storm of the Decade wiped out the road leading to Rodanthe so we had to move the location.
    We would have left earlier than three, but I waited until the last minute to purchase my gift for the party. We always have the give a gift/steal a gift ceremony. It usually works out better with a large crowd because someone will get into the spirit of things and steal something. When we have a small crowd, which was the case this time, things don't get quite so rowdy. I purchased a Mexican Train game in a metal travel case, along with a gift bag and some grocery items that Diane needed for the Saturday night pot luck and Turkey Dinner.
    It was a quick trip down. We setup camp and all was well until I tried to turn the 12 volts on for the water heater. I received a fault alarm. After some double checking I discovered I had no propane flow. Now why was that? It worked the last time I used it. Well, I switched to 110 volts and we left for the Friday night get-together without hot water to wash our faces first. We had some snacks, played some cards which was fun, and then went home.
    The next morning, after the group breakfast, my friend Jerry and I decided to take a look and see what was going on with the propane. The first thing we made sure of was that the tank was turned on. Which it was, but it didn't sound right. Usually when I first turn on the flow you hear a hiss, but we didn't get that familiar sound this time. We took a couple of wrenches and disconnected the rubber hose from the coach line and discovered some kind of olive oil like substance in the fitting. Once we blew that unknown substance out everything started working again.
    For most of the day I worked around the RV, repairing sweeps and some other small items. There was a group committee reworking our charter bylaws, so I stopped by the meeting room to offer some hopefully helpful input. Around five, we had our really good ThanksmasTurkey dinner followed by the gift swap. I was the master of ceremonies and I tried to liven things up a bit, but for some reason people were not in the spirit of stealing at all. I was the first one to draw a number and picked a gift which I later swapped. Afterward I did entertain us all with some tales of mine and Diane's first Christmas together as husband and wife and others piped up with some funny stories as well.
    We left the next morning pretty early, right after breakfast. As we were leaving we watched a bear cross the road in front of us. We were home by noon.
    For Thanksgiving, my daughter and her family drove up from Florida. I turned the coach into a temporary hotel room for her, her husband and the baby. We had a very crowded house for about four days. Diane loved it. I felt claustrophobic, so I hid in my office with my grandboys and played computer games with them. Austen and I swapped off sessions of Battlefield Heroes, a somewhat goofy online cartoon shooter. It was fun and helped me avoid all the Legos and Duplos scattered around the house. We went to my brother's house for Thanksgiving dinner along with about 25 other members of my extended family, including my parents. It was a very good dinner and lots of fun including a loud session of football watching. I really don't know how my brother and his wife managed to pull it off so well, but they did.
    Now this past weekend Diane, me, and our friends Gary and Janis traveled to the Beth Page Campground in Urbanna for the annual FMCA Colonial Virginians Christmas Bash. And it was just that, a Bash, a good one too.
    We planned on leaving on Friday around noon. Our two coaches would rendezvous at the inspection station for the Monitor and Merrimac bridge tunnel, the M&M as it is known around these parts, and then it would be about an hour drive to the campground. We'd set up camp and then have plenty of time to relax a bit before the group happy hour at five.
    Simple enough, right? It didn't work out quite that way.
    At 11:45 a.m. we were ready to go. That would give us just enough time to make it to the meeting spot. We headed out to the rig only to find that a car was parked on the street blocking the coach. Diane, on the walkie-talkie, tried to get the rig past it but it would not make it; just not enough room. So she walked up to the door of the duplex where she hoped to find the owner of the car and ask them to move it. I turned off the coach and then realized my tail end was still out over the road and I needed to move it. It wouldn't start. Dead. Nothing, No lights on the dash, no click, not even the dome light would work. The steps were dead, too. I was not getting any voltage from the chassis battery at all. So I jumped out of the coach, took a meter to the battery and I got 11 volts. My brain was racing now trying to figure out what was wrong, and how was I going to get this rig started and moved. Could we still make our trip? By this time Diane has found no one at home in the duplex and was standing behind me.
    "Can you jump it with the car?" she asked.
    Jump it? Wait, I can boost it!
    "I forgot about the battery boost!" I told her.
    I rushed back into the coach, hit the boost switch, turned the key and she started right up. Diane got on the phone with Janis to fill her in on why we are going to be delayed. We still had the problem of getting around the parked car. I fixed that. I had Diane back me straight back into the yard across the street, which is mostly gravel, around the car and then I made a forward right turn. She jumped into the coach and we were off.
    An hour and some minutes later, including the time it took to meet up with Gary and Janis, we arrived at Beth Page. Diane registered and we were led by a campground worker in a golf cart to our head to tail (or tail to head) site.
    It was really cold. My hands were freezing as we leveled, hooked up the power and ran out the slides. Lastly, I hooked up the water and discovered that the right door piston was shot. I found that out after the bay door dropped and hit me on the back of the head. Usually I bang into a door or the slide out not the other way around. I also discovered that there was no water. I knew that Beth Page was closed for the winter and opened just for this rally, but I didn't get the memo telling me to bring my own water or I would have arrived with more than a tenth of a tank. Gary didn't get the memo, either, and his fresh water tank was bone dry.
    We had no choice but to break down, go to the office, where there was one working faucet, and fill up. That's what we did, along with five other coaches. I left first, arrived at the office and with some help, threw my fresh water hose under the coach, hooked up and waited about 15 minutes to acquire three quarters of a tank of water. That was enough. While I was filling, Gary informed me his main slideout had decided to malfunction as he was bringing it in at the site. The bottom right corner had torqued itself so bad that the frame had broken lose from the outside of the coach. He had a heck of time getting it to come back in.
    With full tanks, or close enough, anyway, we headed back to the site and set up again. I was still having to use the boost to get the coach started so obviously something was going on, but I managed to get the coach leveled, slides out, power connected, not in that order, and the Snowmen that Diane had set out when we first arrived were still smiling at me from their place on the dining table credenza. I walked back to Gary's coach only to find out that now he can't start his coach either. I am beginning to find this a bit freaky. I suggested he use his boost. That worked and he was able to level the coach, which requires the motor to be running, and then he nursed his slides out a bit tentatively but they made it. At this point, Gary is now an unhappy camper. I don't blame him. I have been there a bunch of times.
    "What's going on with my battery?" he asks.
    "Not sure," I replied. "But since we both have the same coach and we both have the same problem, well it's weird, that's all I can tell you."
    Our common weird problem had to wait. It was almost five o'clock and time to head over to the happy hour, which by this time we both needed. I went back to our coach, changed into something a bit nicer, grabbed a plate of shrimp and a bottle of beer, shoved the beer into a picnic backpack, that I bought from one of our Sun chaser friends who got it at the Thanksmas party but didn't think they would use it, and we loaded everything and everybody into Janis's Vue and a couple of minutes later arrived at the evening's party.
    There was lots of fine finger foods there, including good sized shrimp, meat balls, cheese and crackers, hot wings along with brownies, cheese cake and other things that are easy to eat and easy to eat too much of. I did eat too much, but I didn't care.
    Along with the goodies we had pleasant conversation. Two friends of ours, Bill and his wife Mickey, were at our table. They are also members of our Good Sam's chapter. They didn't make it to the Thanksmas party and we missed them so it was very nice that they were at the Bash.
    Gary and I mentioned our electrical problem, slide out problems, and how aggravating it was. That was nothing compared to the lightning hit that scorched Bill and Mickey's stored coach. The lightning did some fourteen thousand dollars worth of damage to the coach and took months to repair. After hearing their story I thought about that old saying:
    "I complained that I had no shoes until I met a person with no feet"
    Many times our coaches may have a problem, but many times someone else will have a bigger problem, one that you hope will never happen to you. It's best to just keep it in perspective.
    After too many shrimp and meatballs (for me anyway), a couple glasses of wine, a beer (also for me) and a lot of Mexican train we called it a night, packed up and drove back to the coaches.
    After Gary, Janis, Diane and I said our good nights, Diane and I decided to curl up with Nicolas and a good movie. Diane had experienced some minor back pain most of the day. A bit of self medication at Happy Hour seemed to help, but she still wanted to ice it for a while. She curled up on the couch with the dog; I started the Curious Case of Benjamin Button spinning in the DVD player and settled comfortably in my Euro chair. It wasn't long before Diane was out like a light. I watched the movie by myself, and enjoyed every minute of it.
    As soon as the movie ended I was ready to hit the sack. I woke Diane up so she could go to bed and go back to sleep.
    The next morning all four of us, with Diane's back feeling much better, headed back to the conference center for a catered breakfast and another opportunity to eat too much. There were good biscuits, gravy, bacon, light and fluffy scrambled eggs, and pancakes. All of it fixed really well. I didn't overdo it. I know-you don't believe me.
    Bill and Mickey were at our table again and this time the conversation was about the remodeling of their Allegro Bay that was done down in Red Bay Alabama. It sounded like they had some really fine improvements made so we all agreed that sometime before the rally ended we would visit their coach and take a look for ourselves.
    After breakfast and back at the site, Gary and I decided to tackle this strange electrical problem we were both having.
    We used my volt ohm meter to try to trace down where this problem could be coming from. While we were at it a couple of other campers, Jack and Buddy, walked over to see what we were up to. Jack was a bit of an electrician so he said "let's tackle one of the coaches and see what we find out."
    After a bit of poking around inside the electrical control panel, which was located in its own compartment, and some crawling around under the engine, we discovered that both coaches were suffering from a manual battery disconnect switch not making good contact. What are the odds of that? After some manipulation to shake the rust off so to speak, and some squirts of electrical silicon spray, the problem seemed to be solved. One down, who knows how many more to go.
    Well, we had some hours to kill before the big dinner and gift giving/gift stealing (yes another one!) party that night. We decided to head into the little waterfront town of Urbanna and see what there was to see.
    First we stopped at an auto parts store so Gary could buy a new gas cap for his coach. He misplaced his somewhere between Tampa and Tidewater. I brought mine along so that the store could match it. I have found it difficult to get parts for my coach at an auto parts store, makes no difference which one. As soon as you say this gas piston, light bulb, gas cap, whatever part, comes from a motor home, the guys or gals behind the counter look at you like you just ordered a cheeseburger.
    On this occasion the store had a compatible locking gas cap, at a good price so that problem was solved. I asked about a basement door piston, but not having the bad one with me, there wasn't anyway to match it. That would have to wait for another day. While there we saw something unusual on the counter. It was a large block of cement with shoes stuck in the middle of it. I am not sure what that item was for, but it did make for a number of in-law and ex wife jokes that I don't think I will repeat here.
    Our next stop was a good size flea/collectible/antique market located in a metal building. There were a number of interesting things in there including some Blue Danube dishes. Diane has a small collection of those and left the store with a purchase of a cup and saucer.
    We visited a couple of variety stores. No being in the market for variety, no matter what kind, I purchased nothing. Diane bought something else but I don't remember what it was.
    We did visit a nice clothing store where I found a black shirt with vertical colored stripes. It looked Christmassy and more important, it was forty percent off. Diane bought it for me along with a nice fleece vest for herself.
    The last thing we did was walk up the street to Olivia's Seafood Restaurant. We all had a cup, actually a bowl, of crab and shrimp bisque that was to use their words "Food of the Gods" and it was. I also had a fried oyster and shrimp salad with balsamic vinegar dressing. It was really good. I have not had good fried oysters in a long time.
    We made a stop at the local supermarket for a six pack of libations and then it was back to the campground.
    Diane and I showered, she went first, and I scalded myself second. I can never seem to adjust the temperature of the water when it comes from the water pump. Then I put on my new shirt for the evening's catered dinner. Once ready we grabbed our gifts, our picnic bag containing glasses and a bottle of wine and we were all off once more.
    I forget to tell you that Beth Page had the meeting/conf room decorated really nicely. There are beams on the ceiling, columns that ran length of the room on both sides and all had lights on them. There was a nice sized tree at the stage end of the room and all the tables had red tablecloths on them with a nice centerpiece, well in the center of the table.
    The night's dinner was a house salad, pork roast, very tender, with scalloped potatoes, and seasoned long green beans. We also really great dinner rolls and dessert, which I skipped, of hot apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.
    I tried not to overdue it. Before dinner was served, I started out with my own thermos of hot cider to which I added just a bit of Captain Jack's favorite liquid, Meyer's Rum. Two cups of that and I was feeling pretty good.
    As soon as dinner was over and the tables were cleared the gift giving and stealing time began. This took awhile, too long. People didn't attack their packages. They unwrapped them like they were wrapped with money and didn't want to tear the paper. At first no one wanted to steal anyone else's present. That changed as the evening went along. There were forty presents to give out, one per coach with a couple of exceptions Diane and I being one since we brought two gifts. The gifts that got stolen the most (and three times was the max) were animated mechanical singing floppy eared dogs. Diane took her gift and stole one of those cute singing Cocker Spaniels from someone. The very next person stole it from Diane and left her with a metal traveling case of grill utensils. I liked that present! It didn't matter that Diane was the one that bought it and brought it.
    The evening was fun and it eventually ended. We all had our pictures taken with Santa, we gave toys to the Marines Toys for Tots program, and we were all full of pork and other things. The only unpleasant thing was I was called a Rat Fink by the lady who lost her nice wine carrier containing two great bottles of wine to me and ended up with a bottle of Crown Royal with two matching glasses that got stolen by someone else. Hey you can't make everyone happy!
    By the time the party was over, Diane and I were pretty beat. We went back to the coach and took Nickolas for a long walk, and along the way chatted with other campers. Then we hit the sack and watched an episode of The Closer on the little bedroom TV.
    Next morning we had a continental breakfast, talked to some other campers, including the nice lady who thought I was a fink. After breakfast Bill, Gary and I went back to Gary's coach to help shove his slide back in. The girls all decided to walk over to Bill's coach to see the remodeling.
    As we were driving to the coach it started to pour down rain. Gary, who had tried to bring in his slide before breakfast and it stuck, now ran it back out. It dumped about ten gallons of water on me at the same time. Bill and I then grabbed a hold of it, he lifted while I pushed and with Gary on the in button, we man handled the slide closed.
    Bill then realized he had the keys to his coach. The girls were standing in the rain somewhere so we rushed to the car to go open the door. We found three wet ladies standing outside, but they were under umbrellas so it wasn't too bad. We visited the coach and found some really nice work had been done to it. There were new lights, couch, dining table, new floor, and other things. Having seen it before, I could tell a major difference. We visited for a few minutes and then said our goodbyes.
    It took Gary and me a bit to pack up our coaches in the rain. After he had a basement door that wouldn't close and I had a sewer line pop off and give me a brown set of shoes, we finally got underway. We were home after about two hours of driving in the rain.
    Yesterday I helped Gary diagnose his slide problems. We took pictures which were sent to the manufacturer and I spent some time on the phone getting advice about how to repair it. I relayed that advice to Gary and today he called me to inform me that most of the major repairs he was able to take care of himself. We both still need to get our slides adjusted and we both have some other things we want to get fixed. The thing is we are helping each other. That's what it is about.
    Diane said that one of the reasons we are so close to our RV friends is because they are there to help when you have troubles and there to share your joy when everything is going well. Friends are really the biggest part of the equation.
    They are there to help your coach to improve your life, if you let it.
    I think I have read that somewhere before.
    Merry Christmas!
  7. -Gramps-

    Tips and Hints

    By -Gramps-,

    Over the last ten years, Diane and I have learned, discovered, or otherwise stumbled upon a few things that have helped us during our adventures on the road.
    http://www.myrandomviews.com/blog/tipsandhints
  8. -Gramps-

    Tips and Hints.

    By -Gramps-,

    Over the last seven years, Diane and I have learned, discovered, or otherwise stumbled upon a few things that have helped us during our adventures on the road.
    1. Velcro computer wiring straps (available from Wal-Mart of course) can keep your coach vertical cabinet doors from flying open while going down the road and hitting a pot hole or expansion joint or worst yet….rolling over a speed bump. Just slip one thru the cabinet handles and snick it down. They have saved our dishes more than once.
    2. If you have area rugs that you have to roll up to bring in your slide outs then roll them up around a pool noodle. This will keep the rug edges from curling when you lay them out at your next stop. They will lay flat instead.
    3. You can create a wine glass caddy to protect your glassware while traveling by cutting the bottom off a beer cozy (the soft collapsible ones) and slipping it over the glass.
    4. Carry a curved sail needle and some uv resistant thread….you never know when you might need to sew up a hole in a slide topper. Silicone uv resistant fabric spray is a good thing to have as well. A coating of that on your toppers will make them last a lot longer.
    5. Mount a paper towel holder somewhere in a compartment on both sides of your coach. It is good to have one roll near the wet bay and another on the patio side to have access to when cooking outside.
    6. I have found that the best thing to clean a really dirty rubber or fiberglass coach roof with is Murphy oil soap. Clorox clean up will help dissolve stubborn stains including sap. Seal and quick clean the roof with Murphy Squirt and Mop. This will leave a nice shine.
    7. Coach closets don’t get much air circulation, we put dryer sheets in them to help keep locked up clothes smelling fresh. A dryer sheet tossed in the dirty clothes bag or drawer is a helpful thing as well.
    8. Washing a coach can be a tiring pain in the neck and back. I use a long handle adjustable nozzle sprayer with a reservoir that allows you to soap down your rig and then rinse it (available at Wal-Mart for nineteen bucks). If you attach an inline water filter to the hose you will not get water spots. I use a carnauba wax car wash. I prefer ArmorAll Extreme Shine car wash solution.
    9. Turtle Wax Ice spray on synthetic wax is good stuff. You can use it on paint, chrome, vinyl, rubber and glass. In other words it’s good for the whole coach and tow car. It can be used as a cleaner even when you are staying in a campground with water restrictions. Spray it on, rub in with a terry cloth, and rub off with a second cloth. It leaves no swirl marks and blends in minor scratches. You are left with a slick, shiny coach when finished.
    10. It’s a good idea to once in a while go through all your basement compartments and storage boxes. You will find out that you are carrying around things you don’t need anymore and find things you thought you were out of that you do need, like wheel lug nut caps.
    11. Keep a cheap volt ohm meter in your electrical bay along with a flashlight and a gallon of distilled water. Makes it much easier to maintain your batteries and make them last longer.
    12. Things don’t roll around in your bay if you strap them together. These things include fishing rods, washing brushes and brooms, hoses. I found some adjustable ball and bungee straps at Lowes that work really well for this purpose.
    13. Always ask any campground or resort that has wifi if they provide wifi client security. This is more than just a password. Client security protects you from other logged on users. If the campground says no or they don’t know, then you must tell your computer you are logged on to a public wifi and turn off file and print sharing. If you don’t take this precaution you could get hacked by a fellow camper.
    14. I use a mixture of Pine-Sol and water to rise out and sanitize my sewer hoses and wet bay. It works just as well as bleach and doesn’t spot my clothes.
    15. There are cell phone repeaters that work. I use a Z-Boost with dual band uni directional antennas. One is for data, one for voice. I mount them to my ladder with pvc pipes coupled together. I can strap em together and store em in my pass thru storage while traveling.
    16. The moment you think that there is nothing wrong with your coach something will break….like a windshield wiper arm.
    17. If your toilet won’t hold water it could be that the ball seal needs cleaning. There is a groove in the seal that will clog and then it can’t well…seal.
    18. Try to take advantage of every space in your coach. I recently attached a piano hinge to the washer dryer plumbing compartment so that I could store things like grocery bags and collapsible crates in there.
    19. Consider placing a wireless thermometer in your fridge. It’s great for helping you keep your beer and stuff from freezing or getting too warm.
    20. When you find a good rv repair facility make every effort to go there when you have something wrong with your coach that you can’t fix yourself or isn’t an emergency repair. I am talking about things like broken air conditioners, body work, slide out repair etc. We take our coach to Terry Labonte RV service in Greensboro NC.
    That’s all for now but I am sure to come up with some more…after all one of my rules is
    “Owning a motor coach is a never ending learning experience.”
    Derrick
    “Gramps”
  9. -Gramps-

    Today

    By -Gramps-,

    Well today was a rare day. Actually it has been a beautiful day. I took advantage of the great weather and did some work on our coach. I installed a Trik-l-Start to keep the chassis battery charged. The install was quite easy to do. I mounted the thing in my outside front wiring bay under the drivers seat. I read the directions first so that may have helped prevent a problem. I aslo added an over the door awning arm lock. I think there should have been two of them to begin because I ordered the lock and they only come in pairs. For some reason the coach came with only one. With one lock, one side of the awing would try to unroll, while going down the road, and that made a very unpleasant thumping noise. That irritation is now resolved.
    The best modification I did to the coach was to change the wiper arms and blades yesterday. I now have blades with a smaller j-hook which allows me to use the new 32 inch frameless wiper blades made by Tru Vision. These blades should hug the big curved windshield and hopefully the blade on the driver's side will no longer fly off and end up over the rearview mirror during a heavy rain.
    Last week I removed the twenty inch CRT telly from its swing out cabinet in the bedroom. I installed a 26 inch LCD in its place. I think my work looks pretty good. Now I have a digital convertor box that may end up, along with a tv, in a furture yard sale.
    I still have a few coach things left to do. Add a wall paper border in the bedroom and purchase some cleaning supplies. All this is in preperation for our trip to Elkhart. We leave on Thursday. I am looking forward to a good long road trip. It will give me something new to write about.
    Derrick
  10. -Gramps-

    Warming up the coach

    By -Gramps-,

    Well, it is supposed to get down to 18 degrees tonight around here. I have the wet bay heater running. I bypassed the snap fuse and replaced it with a 30-amp auto fuse. There is a 120-volt heater running in the cargo bay next to the hot water heater. I have 4 inches of insulation stuffed in the fridge access, with the ice maker water supply disconnected. I have insulation in the wet bay and more in the fresh water tank compartment. A second ceramic heater is running in the coach with all the cabinets and shower doors open. The furnace is set at 40 degrees. Right now it is 35 outside and the coach is at 69 inside. I think I should be safe. I don't want to loose my water pump and ice maker solenoid again, so I decided to stay ahead of this cold snap.
    Gramps
  12. -Gramps-
    This lesson is a continuation of using your eyes and your imagination.
    One of the volumes in my Time Life library of photography is called The Great Themes. These photography themes include The Human Condition (life as the camera sees it) War, Nature, Portraits, The Nude, and finally Still Life.
    I have captured a lot of nature shots. I have taken pictures of many humans including ones in love, sad, happy and just arrived in the world.
    I have not dedicated much time or effort to becoming a better formal portrait photographer. It is on my list to improve that skill.
    The Nude or figure study as it is sometimes called, has been a subject for art for as long as the human form has existed I bet. However it creates such a mix of attitudes and taboos that I have confined my eye behind the lens to pictures of my children when they were very, very young. You know the kind of image I am talking about, the standard bathtub shot that mortifies your now adult son or daughter when the image pops up in the middle of a family slide show to a chorus of DAD!....I can't believe you are showing that! I come back with a response of Look how cute she was. I will not be posting any of those shots here, not if I want any of my kids to keep speaking to me.
    I think some of these themes will make for new and interesting lessons.
    Lets talk about shooting things when they are still.
    This is a very challenging form of photography. I find the thought process that goes into picturing things to be at times difficult but at times satisfying when the final product looks, well, good, to me anyway. A still life takes time to design before the shot is taken. There is the object or objects to consider, the lighting, the angle, and the story that you want to convey. You might create the design or be someplace and find it already there in front of you.
    There are no hard and fast rules when creating a still life, except for the obvious one, the subject must be still! The image can be of objects you arranged, such as the common bowl of fruit. The image can be a form, a shadow, a light. The pictures don't always have to be good, all of mine certainly are not, but that is not the most important thing. The important thing is to try.
    Shooting still life pictures is a great exercise that uses a lot of what I have tried to pass on to you.
    I do have a suggestion. A tripod is a very helpful piece of equipment to own when making a still life image. Long exposures are common when shooting still life images, especially when using available light. I used a tripod when taking one of the following pictures, can you guess which one that is?
    Let us look at a few images.

    The below picture of the Chrysler Museum (a wing no longer there) won third place in the open category of the first photo contest I entered many years ago. The contest was sponsored by the Portsmouth Parks and Recreation Dept in partnership with local camera retailers.


    This picture won third place in the still life category. I was told by one of the judges it would have won first place and been up for best in show if not for one thing the panel of judges did not like. That one thing is not in this picture because I edited it. I will show you the original image at some point.
    I shot the next picture at a large flea market. I walked around for hours fighting with a malfunctioning camera but managed to take one picture that I rather liked.


    This dining room was just as I found it. The light was from one window, as is the next picture shot in the kitchen just off the dining room. It was a very small area. The picture was shot with a 24mm lens mounted on my 35mm film camera. My question for you is: What focal length would I use if I shot this picture with my APS-C camera and kept the same angle of view?

    I gave a lot of thought to the next picture...I shot it on a light table with my camera positioned directly above the image, It never came out exactly the way I visioned it. I think it would have been better if the background was not textured. What do you think? Oh, the answer for the question I asked above is 16mm.


    Just a simple image that conveys a message about time. I shot it using available light and hand held it as well.
    The next shot is very simple, just apples, but for some reason people like it. I should mention that that I shot it in the horizontal format. The blog uploading program likes it the other way. I find that interesting.

    I said that there were no hard and fast rules for creating a still life image...so one can be whimsical don't you agree?

    Last is the original image of my Third Place still life. It is really neat what one can do with a good photo editing software program. Check the comments at the bottom of this blog.
    By the way, I used a tripod when shooting the "bowl of fruit."
    Now I would like to make a personal observation. I have only received one response from viewers who are members of this site. That is a bit disappointing. I was hoping for a lot more than that! I was hoping for a number of reasons. One, a blog is a bit of work (Tom and Mike would agree I am sure!) and one likes to have one's work appreciated; that is just a vanity thing. Second, I would really like to know if I am encouraging people to take better pictures, just as I am my daughter (Christine does read this blog). Third, I was hoping to have a kind of simple photo contest. Maybe that is wishing for too much. Still, I have had fun creating these blog entries and there might be some more.
    Thanks!
    Gramps.
  13. -Gramps-

    Where Is My Wallet?

    By -Gramps-,

    Where is my wallet? (The Buyers From Perdition Part 1)
    I was in a panic condition….my head was buried in one of my wardrobe drawers looking desperately for my wallet, which of course, contained all my credit cards, driver's license and other important pieces of plastic. Read More!
     
  14. -Gramps-

    Who Is Rescuing Who?

    By -Gramps-,

    Or is it Whom? Never mind.
    I can't remember the exact quote, but at the end of the movie Seabiscuit, there is a line something like this:
    We may have saved a banged up life, but the truth is we found each other and he saved us. The truth is we may have saved each other.
    The words printed above are most likely very misquoted, but still, that line describes what has been going on around my house for the last three weeks. Diane and I took a simple trip in the coach, found a dog who has been moved from place to place, took him in and our lives have gotten better, so much better since. So the question is: who is rescuing who?
    Mr. Beasley formerly named Bailey, now known officially as Theodore Beasley Parker but lovingly called and answers to "Teddy Bear"; is now a wonderful member of our little family.
    Teddy loves the cat, can't wait for Joel to get home each day, loves flushing birds out of the bushes in the back yard, likes to front paw counter surf (we are working on that), can't stand going into his crate, but settles down quickly, loves yogurt (don't tell Diane that I share it with him), loves to go on walks, needs to be groomed, loves Diane's heart shaped home made dog biscuits, and is fascinated by all her Christmas snowmen.
    According to his paper work, he is three years old, almost. He seems more like two. He has high energy, runs around the house, zooms around the yard, watches the Dog Whisperer and when a dog on the TV goes off screen, Teddy runs and looks behind the set trying to see where it went. He makes us laugh. He is medicine for our souls.
    Teddy has separation anxiety. He howls when one of us leaves the house. We are working on that as well. He doesn't like being groomed but Diane, with a handful of liver treats, is successfully helping him overcome his dislike of that activity.
    It is so obvious that the two of them are developing a very close relationship.
    There have been a few rough moments in the last three weeks but nothing all that dramatic. He snapped at the lady vet who was checking him out the day before we decided to adopt him. A trainer at the vet's office thought he might have some aggressive tendencies, but I disagree. I think Teddy is just simply afraid. He was boarded for long periods of time at a vet clinic while his owners traveled for days to football games and such. He has been left for weeks at Doggie Day Care facilities. I think he thought he was about to be left behind..again.
    We have no intentions of ever leaving him with anybody until he knows that we will be coming back to get him.
    The day after Christmas we are heading to St Augustine. The three of us are looking forward to that long coach trip. We will be celebrating the arrival of the New Year while walking the beach. The next day, we are off to Fort Wilderness for five days. Nickolas loved that place.
    I am sure that Teddy will too.
    Teddy had no idea how his life was about to change that Saturday after Thanksgiving when we saw this long legged dog for the first time. We had no idea how our lives would improve when we took him in to live with us.
    So the answer to the question is obvious. We are rescuing each other.


  15. -Gramps-

    Why Don't He Write?

    By -Gramps-,

    I know someone must be asking that question. I have asked it myself. I don't have a good answer. The bad answer is that there have been lots of distractions the last few weeks. The first distraction being caused by the need to look after a pup named Nickolas.
    Diane and I decided to subject him to some pretty extensive surgery that, thank the Lord, appears to be mostly successful. He is missing part of three ribs, some chest wall and a big malignant lump on his side. I have been amazed at how quickly he has recovered. However, a problem still remains. The shock of surgery seems to have made an old dog older. Since coming out of recovery he has an extreme thirst, and as a result of that, well, he doesn't always make it outside on time, and he can't make it through the night at all without waking up wet the next morning. That has required us to put him to bed wearing some special waterproof doggy jockey shorts. Nickolas doesn't like the idea that he is wearing diapers, so we don't use that word around him if we can help it.
    Our pupster looked awful after surgery. His back and side were shaved and he had staples running from his belly to his back. People looking at him just cringed. When I looked at him, I just hurt. We lived full-time in the coach for almost 10 days at Deer Creek after he came home. He spent four days at NC State School of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, North Carolina. We needed to keep him in a confined space. No, running, no jumping and no climbing stairs was allowed. He went in and out of the coach on a portable ramp. It was not fun for him or us.
    Things improved rapidly and he received a good report on his last visit to the vet school, which took place on our way home from Galax. We spent the night in the State Fairground campground. We were all alone in that huge place. It was just across the street from the school, so staying there could not have been more convenient.
    Since coming back to our stick house, things have been very busy. Lots of phone work and customer service calls (nothing new there). We have also had to make lots of follow-up calls to vets, trying to cure our dog's incontinence problem. Now we are looking at the possibility of Cushing's disease, or Addison's disease or diabetes or maybe just old age. No one knows for sure, even after a lot of blood work, urinalysis and other things that keep draining funds from our retirement account. Poor Nickolas remains in an agitated state, never knowing when the leash being clipped on means that the car will take him to some location where unpleasant things happen.
    I have a theory that Nickolas needs to be left alone. Let him get over the loss of ribs, muscle, and having a lot of pain and confusion. Treat him like a normal dog and he will heal himself.
    No one really liked my theory, for awhile. Finally the decision was made to treat his "leaking" problem with drugs and see how that goes.
    We have a FMCA international rally to attend this weekend. It is the Workhorse Chassis Motor Club rally and I am the host and rallymaster. I have been working on this rally for over a year and I know that Nickolas is looking forward to it as much as I am. The rally takes place at Camp Hatteras in Waves, N.C. Nickolas loves a good romp on the beach and, by golly, I'm going to see to it that he gets one.
    He has comtributed so much to our lives.
    The whole point of his surgery was to try to make Nickolas' life last a lot longer. I am praying that his life continues to be a good one.
    I owe Nickolas at least that much.
    Gramps
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