Wed - Jan 3/18

Rain off and on through the night. Still raining this morning. The orange groves are watering their trees so that if it freezes the layer of ice will protect the oranges and save the trees. The trees are usually OK unless it gets down to 27 F for a few hours. After the hurricane this will be a “Double Whammy” if more damage is done to the citrus industry.  Just when the Florida’s Natural Orange Juice factory just down the road is hiring and harvesting of some crops is about to begin.  This will be the coldest week in years down here.

Most of the dogs now have their coats on. Remember, with a pet size limitation at the park (as well as specific areas where pets aren’t allowed) these are all small breeds or miniatures. Many don’t have much fur to begin with.

I drove Charlotte to Crafts in a light rain.  There were more men than women at the MPR this morning. One of the ladies asked; "How many OMS staff does it take to change a light bulb?"...which did not need a replay. There were 3 there cleaning the fans and lights.

The Lodge is usually “Off-Limits” due to yoga untiI after 10 a.m.; but today they must find it too cold to lay on the floor. There was no sign on the door so away I went over there as the Craft Room was totally crowded. 

Later a group of 5 (a resident committee) was meeting and discussing guidelines for evacuation plans . They talked about how to distribute the park residents to the OMS buildings during a storm alert. This is complicated when there are in excess of 900 individuals and their pets to deal with. They do this every year; however it is more important this year as a direct "Tornado Hit" occurred her in September.

Surprise! Surprise! The OMS crew came in to do the Lodge after they finished in the Craft Room. There must be more about two dozen staff required to keep the park running smoothly.

Later I received an e-Mail from a friend, Kay, with a pattern for Charlotte. This was good for two reasons:

      - 1 - it was a neat pattern.

      - 2 - was it reminded me to look up a knitting pattern for a quilt for Charlotte. 

I downloaded a bunch in PDF form so Charlotte could choose and I could print them out at the motorhome.

By noon everyone had cleared out of the Lodge.

I took this picture of the computer (today's blog) just to test getting photos from the camera using iCloud. It appears to be working now.

As usual, Charlotte arrived at the Lodge when she was done sewing. I packed up the computer and we returned to the RV for lunch. Today we finally got to the Spanish Rice for lunch!

It was still cold, miserable and raining. At least the heavy rain last night cleaned the pollen off of the car.

We rested and watched TV until after 4 p.m. The rain, since yesterday, finally stopped and the sun came out. It was still quite windy; however nothing like last night. There were two gusts, a few minutes apart, that shook the RV and sounded like an 18 wheeler was passing by right outside. At least it wasn't like "The Train" roar from a tornado.

We went out on a few errands. First, just across the road from OMS to Ace Hardware to pick up a TV cable. The TV stopped working and I figured out that it may be the connecting coaxial (round type) cable. At least, that was what I was hoping.

The next stop was at our usual Publix for a few grocery items. We also stopped to check our lottery tickets. There was no big winner; but there was a Million $ winner in the draw last night from Florida. (It wasn't us). Charlotte bought a few extra tickets for the drawing tonight. If tonight's draw isn't won the combined total for both big draws would be over a billion $.

After shopping we continued on down the road to Wendy's for supper. Their $4 meal was a 4 x 4. Choose an item from special menu and get it with a small fry, small drink and 4 nuggets for $4.

We arrived back at the RV after dusk; but in time for Jeopardy.

I replaced the suspected TV cable and all was working (Front TV) again. The lights are from the TV system components. The top light is the converter (Digital TV signal to RF (for old style TVs). The bottom lights are the TV Antenna amplifier (Green), TV signal out to Channel 4 (Yellow) and the 3 (Red) are TV Distribution Amps to the 3 TV's (Front, Bedroom and Outside).

I left to do the blog at 8 p.m. (after Family Feud) while Charlotte set out to iron squares for her current quilt project.

Lots of cars at the Lodge so I went to the MPR tonight. There were 3 groups, each playing a different table game.

Again the computer started up weird. All my desktop icons were all on one side of the screen; however the "Windows Update" had already automatically checked and was up-to-date. This was a pleasant surprise. Even today's pictures transferred from the camera to iCloud automatically. Things are looking up! I can get the pictures from my iPhone to the computer without having to connect with a cable. When in range of WI-Fi this will happen automatically.

After arranging my desktop icons again I finished the blog. It was done in less than an hour which is a record. I would be back at the RV watching the now working front TV before 9 p.m.