Sunday, December 30, 2007

What is it?

A few of you may know what this is. Like a dummy, I had to ask & the answer to me was we charge $5 per answer, LOL. Well, you can guess free & send it to me in an e-mail at zaqphoto@gmail.com
This is a 1956 Chevy Bel-Air. It has all been disassembled & put back together, but no bondo on it. All of that work was done by a man in a wheel chair. It is almost all stock including the paint color. Engine is a 365 cu. in. Tires are even bias ply wide whitewalls. He strips down the wax each year & gives it 3 new coats. He was showing me where the right side of the hood only had 2 coats, but I couldn't see the difference.


In the last year he has had 2 offers to buy it. The 1st offer was $50,000, which I guess I would have taken it, but his other offer was $65,000, plus there has been 3 auction houses that wanted to sell it for him. I didn't realize it, but it is worth more than 1957's, because of the overabundance's of them & few of 1956.
So do you have an idea of when this car was made? Well, the body style is still stock, but it has been made into a hot rod. It has a small block Chevy engine in it, but a lot of work inside the engine. It has a Corvette rear end. The owner, a friend of mine named Phil said he had it to 130 mph, but said he'd never do that again as he felt like it was about to go out of control as there seemed to be air getting up under the fenders. But he did say it is a fun car to drive. He brought it to Florida in a trailer behind his motor home. It may appear to be black, but it is a dark cherry red with sparkle in the paint. Phil's other car is a Chrysler Crossfire convertible that he left in Maine this winter, as that model is no longer being manufactured, so he wants to preserve it for more value.

OK, so if you look at the license plate, it is a 1933 Ford Vicky.

Back in the campground for about 2 weeks. Weather is fine here. Set records yesterday by 2 degrees. But by this coming Thursday morning, it is supposed to be down into the 30's. Brrrrrr. Will probably be too cold to be playing Pickle Ball that morning. Ron

Friday, December 28, 2007

It's a bird, it's a plane.........

No, it is Odie, the Poodle dog from our friends Jim & Chris chasing a radio control airplane. Jim & Chris is out in the desert in Arizona. Go look at their website at: http://www.geeksontour.com You can look at their blog there & learn a lot of information, plus you can sign up for their newsletter to come directly to you. I didn't take this picture. This came to me from their blog.

This picture was so funny to me as I used to be into RC airplanes & never saw a dog chase an airplane before.




As you can see Odie caught the airplane & put some teeth marks in it. I can see this is a foam wing & the airplane doesn't weigh much. It has an electric motor which doesn't fly as fast as the gas powered ones I had.

Might hit 84 here today & possible set a record high, but by next Thursday morning it might be as low as 32 at Orlando.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

You Might Be A Redneck If...............

You are going camping with an air boat. The engine is a Continental brand, so I thought it was an airplane engine, but he said it wasn't & you could tell because there is only 1 spark plug per cylinder in his engine. Seems unusual to me to go camping with an air boat, but his brother-in-law & several cousins are going. They also went around Thanksgiving on the Peace River farther downstream from Wauchula here. They fish a lot for their food.
The boat is pretty well loaded down with other supplies including fruit drinks, grapefruit, etc. They also had an ice chest full in the pick up to be loaded in the boat when they get on the water. He plans to be camping for 8 days.
This was the Christmas day sunset. Nice & peaceful. I aimed to get a full moon picture this month as the moon was full at Christmas, but never got the picture taken.

There were a lot of well decorated houses. This just happened to be one on Florida Av. in Wauchula. When I started driving the school bus, I didn't even know where Florida Av. was, but now use it frequently as it has a nice angle that saves driving through downtown & the stoplights.
Cloudy here today & a little cooler. Supposed to be back into the lower 80's this next weekend. Ron

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Dinner

We had a great Christmas dinner here at http://www.1000trails.com/ at Peace River, near Wauchula, Florida. We had a 40' X 60' tent. At each stake in the ground there was some kind of Christmas decoration so people wouldn't walk into the stakes.
I think there were 4 picnic tables they brought in, plus 2 other tables to put food on. When I took this picture, the food wasn't all here yet as it ended up about all of the seating area of these tables having food on them also. I took deviled eggs & they all disappeared. I counted & 8 people took deviled eggs.
Here's Deb to make announcements. One thing she mentioned was a tornado watch, LOL. Actually the sun is shining & it is beautiful today, but last year it was windy & they were having to hold onto the tent & food to keep everything from blowing away. I took other pictures of Deb, but liked this one the best. She works the whole crowd & "WE HAVE FUN HERE!" She makes us laugh. You'd love Deb if you ever met her. She said this is the biggest gathering we had ever had for one event. This tent will still be here for New Year's.
As Deb said, no matter how we handled this, there was gonna be chaos. Well, after the food was blessed & handicapped people got their food, Deb explained what would work best. Well, I decided to just take some pictures & sit & wait awhile. I waited about 15 minutes before I went through the line. There were 193 people signed up for the dinner, so they'd know approximately how much ham & turkey to fix. Looking, there may have been more show up.
As I was sitting I heard this woman say, as she was fanning her face with her plate, "Between Hot Flashes & being hungry, that people better not pout & better not shout.", LOL. Well, I had to get her to repose this picture. There were other people fanning their faces with their plates also. This morning when I went outside at around 8AM & it was 63 degrees, it reminded me of one time when I was a kid & we played football on Christmas Day outside without coats on in northern Indiana. I think the temperature here today was to be 75+, which I'm sure it made it.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Ron

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Christmas Pickle Ball Shorts

Several times when I played Pickle Ball with long legged jeans on, I've been told I needed to have shorts on!!! So today when I was at Wal-Mart, I found these. Well, of course several got a laugh. One gal said she hoped it wasn't a skirt. And I ain't gonna tell you what another gal said who wears those fancy tennis outfits said. She was the one who took the picture though. Yes, there are real bells on it & it is made of velvet. LOL, I thought it might distract the opponents & help me win, but I lost 3 games, so I gave up for today.

It is supposed to be down in the 40's tomorrow morning, so I bought a comforter for the bed & will be wearing jeans if I play Pickle Ball in the morning.

Fastest school bus

The kids would love this school bus, LOL.

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2290915

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

WHY & HOW?

I noticed in the men's restroom at McDonald's that there was a baby diaper changing station with Braille on it, so WHY would they put Braille on a baby diaper changing station? If you don't already know how, what good is it gonna do you now? Besides that, if you are blind, HOW DID YOU GET TO McDONALD'S?


This is a new friend named Dan who is blind. Him & his wife Vickie got a new camper today. Dan's dog's name is Tucker. Tucker is very well behaved, but Dan says he can be distracted in the campground. He would like to greet other dogs & Dan can hear him whimper. Also after I took their picture this morning, Tucker was laying down & trying to eat leaves. I never noticed it, but Dan being blind is very sensitive to sounds & told him to quit. Dan is blind & can only see light & dark. Dan started losing his sight while in the service, most likely from Agent Orange in Vietnam. Being in the campground I asked Dan if he could clean up after his dog & he said he can. That he learned that in school. Always carries a bag with him, plus his dog is only fed once a day.
This is the building I took my friend Gregg to Monday for a biopsy. This was originally an one story building. Now it is a 10 story building. The sculpture was nice & had different features on different sides, but I decided on the picture with the building in the background.

Read more information on the next picture.

Still in the lower 80's here in the daytime. Supposed to have a cold front come in here Sunday & temperatures in lower 60's. Monday AM down to 46, but then start warming back up.




Sunday, December 9, 2007

WE HAVE FUN.......................


At the manager's meetings. The park is getting filled up & the seats in the manager's meeting were also about full. One of the items stressed about camping at http://www.1000trails.com/ is that our goal is to have FUN, FUN, FUN. I can tell you that meetings with our manager Debbie Davis, who played Santa Claus Saturday are always fun. You never know what she will come up with. Doesn't she make a beautiful Santa? She has a great personality.

The 2nd picture is Susan who is in charge of recreation. She does a great job also. I tried to get her to stand up for this picture, but she is a little shy, but got a nice smile out of her. Both of them play Pickle Ball & I'll be out there playing also as soon as I get off of the computer.


This is Fred, Susan's husband. He said he had a joke to tell, so Debbie told him to keep it clean. Well, he really had a Christmas song with different words that was fun. Look at the lights on that hat!

I did some videos, but too long for the blog. One I really liked too, EXCEPT, I shut the camera off just before Debbie pulled her Santa wig off, LOL.

The weather here is perfect. Supposed to be around 80 all week until next weekend, of which a cold front will be here. But maybe that will mean 75 instead of 80 degree days. 60 or so at night. Look up http://www.1000trails.com/ Maybe you'd like a free tour & maybe join. I'm glad I did 4 years ago. If you want a free tour, you need my membership #. It is 190003400 Also I can send you a personal invitation. Ron

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Alligator Pugh

This morning I went to Sebring for my physical at the VA clinic. All is well. On the way there, I saw this pickup ahead of me, SO GRABBED THE CAMERA & TOOK THIS PICTURE. Artificial, but looked good.
This is the other truck I saw!!! As you can see it was a sewer sanitation truck & I liked it's smiley face, LOL. You might have thought I misspelled PEW, but not so as the name of the business was Pugh Sanitation Service.

Coolish this morning around 40, but to be back into the lower 70's today & back to 80 by the weekend, with no rain or SNOW, LOL, in sight. I sat next to a guy at the VA clinic this morning from Frankfort, Indiana & he said they got 3" of snow there. Glad I'm not there, LOL. I've been getting some e-mails about, "DON'T RUB THE WEATHER IN!"

Yesterday afternoon in playing Pickle Ball my partner & I won handily. Right at the end of the game I made a great shot the opponent couldn't get to & I laughed. The opponent said she didn't like my laugh. Well, can't help how I laugh when I'm having fun.

Hope all is well with you. Today is HUMP DAY. Ron

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Full Moon

We had around 135 members here at Thousand Trails Resort for Thanksgiving dinner. The room was full, plus a few sat outside to eat. This was my 2ND Thanksgiving dinner.

Beautiful weather here, back into the lower 80's in the daytime with 60's at night.
Picture I took Thanksgiving night. Been off of work all of this week as the kids had the whole week out of school for the holiday. Back to work Monday.

Monday, November 19, 2007

BELIEVE THIS!!!

These 2 dogs are Samoyed, direct descendants of the wolf. Yesterday these two dogs got into a fight & bit the owner while trying to separate them. I tried to let Pickle up to their cage to see if they would play, but they scared Pickle. Samoyed dogs are used as sled dogs in Russia.








So here is just a bag of dog hair? Well, not really. It is Chiengora. Look it up on the Internet: http://reviews.ebay.com/Chiengora-It-apos-s-Not-Just-Dog-Hair_W0QQugidZ10000000000023868 Chiengora means dog hair in French.
Two ladies here were demonstrating it Saturday as I cam into the park. You can use any animal with long hair. I can remember when angora was so nice & soft. Angora is rabbit fur.
She makes different items with the spun yarn. Shaws, hats, etc.

School bus Thanksgiving Dinner

This past Friday we had the Thanksgiving Dinner for school bus employees. Mr. Daggett is the head honcho & so he is carving the turkey.
We got started at around 11:15 AM as some of the drivers have to go on routes at noon.
As you can see there was plenty of food. I took deviled eggs filled with onion & olive pieces. Sure was some tastee sweet potatoes. I got 2nds on that. I got 3 pictures of people with food stuck in there mouth, BUT NOT PUTTING THE PICTURES ON HERE, LOL.
Lori is leaving us as her family is moving. It was a sad day to see her leave. She is such a nice lady. Besides the balloons & cards, they presented her with some pictures of days gone by.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Dog tricks

At the Golden Coral they gave us veterans a sticker to put on our shirt to show we served, so when I got home, I put it on Pickle's forehead. He absolutely hated it & rolled & tried everything he could do to get it off of him. He finally got it off.

During the past week he has chewed his halter apart partially & his leash of which it now has a knot that I tied it back together.


I had a butterfly fly in the window. I was really surprised he didn't eat it. Maybe it doesn't smell like food, LOL.
He did follow it around though until it flew out another window.
When he is good, I give him treats. He has 3 different treats. One is these generic Cheerios, which I don't care for, but he likes. They were given to me, so I am making use of them.

Got chilly here the last few nights, but we are in a warm up trend now. Suppose to be around 80 on Thanksgiving.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Kids are out of school here for the week of Thanksgiving, so I am on vacation. I have been driving morning & afternoon, both halves with all those BRATS!!! Ron

Monday, November 12, 2007

Orange Juice & more

Today I spent over an hour squeezing juice from oranges. It is an electric juicer, but you have to hold down on the 1/2 orange as the juicer turns. I got almost 1 gallon out of 2/3rds bucket of oranges. The oranges were given to me by a gal at Bowling Green who was just picking them up & throwing them away. Worst part is getting the seeds separated.
Last night I received these miniature vegetables. So a fork lift operator dumped a whole skid I heard. I remember once getting a whole case of bananas when a load was refused somewhere in Indiana. WE HAD BANANAS COMING OUT OF OUR EARS, LOL!!! Banana bread, pie, & whatever.
This morning I went to the Veteran's Day program. This is the Honor Guard marching to the ceremony outside.
Placing the wreath was a local lady. I didn't get the picture I wanted as I went to the next picture of the bugler playing "TAPS"
Tonight I am riding with 3 other friends to Lakeland, Fl. to Golden Coral to the free Veteran's supper.

Weather is still beautiful here & the weather forecast is good for all week. Ron

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Pineapples & Bananas in Florida?


I seemed to assume these came from Hawaii or South America, but here they are close to the campground. A gal here sells oranges, etc. to the snowbirds. Since I took my camera, she showed me around. I'll have to go buy some from her myself this year. She only had a few pineapple, but quite a few bananas. Some are a smaller type. The red piece under the bananas is the bloom.
This is a Navel Orange tree & the oranges are starting to ripen. She also showed me a lemon tree & she said the lemons she has are real juicy.
This is some kind of a thorn (by name) that Hummingbirds like. She had lots of other flowers there also & some trumpet flowers that she said will be open shortly. She has a lot of variety of plants.
Here is the Papaya tree with fruit on it. You can go read more about it at: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/papaya.html Guess I'll wait till she says they are ripe & try one.

Weather is beautiful here again today. Yesterday I talked to a friend & Indiana & he said he'd like to be down here, but can't come for maybe another several years. Ron