The Shade Saga

It is not uncommon to have problem with RV shades.  The strings break which causes the shades not to stay in place.  Our shades started having problems a few weeks after we bought the motor home.  The motor home is eight years old so that is not surprising. The folks were told that re-stringing them was a major pain. Dad said it was worth the $16 that the kit costs to try it.  Mama bought a re-stringing kit before we left Houston in March.  Mama has been asking Dad to try re-string one since that time.  She didn't think she could do it herself because she watched a You Tube video and it looked really hard.  In May, Mama was still asking Dad to re-string it.  She was tired of propping up the shades with pillows and suction cups.  The suction cups fly off and the shades fall down and that scares us.  The suction cups fall behind the couch and then Mama has to use kitchen tongs to fish them out.  It is quite a production.  She decided to cut off the "day shade" and just leave the night shade to make it easier to hold the shades up.  She couldn't use the day shade anyway.  That worked well for a few weeks, but then the shades lost all their pleats and were harder to hold up.

We can use pillows on the two windows that have couches in front on them.

Mama started growing impatient and decided to try re-stringing herself.  However, the video she watched said she needed to take down the valance and she couldn't figure out how to do it.  Dad told her not to attempt it.  He told her on a rainy weekend, we would put up new shades.  Finally, this past weekend was rainy.  Mama was excited. Dad was not.  The folks headed to Home Depot.  They had picked out shades there.  They are not RV shades, but according to forums Mama has read, people have used these and are quite happy with them.  Dad said they should just buy one to make sure they liked it because since they were custom cut and they could not be returned.

Let me just say that putting this shade up was not easy. The folks started on it Saturday afternoon and finally Sunday night it was up.  It took five trips to Home Depot to accomplish this. They kept bringing home wood and bigger screws.  The biggest problem is that the valance is in the way and it will not come down.  The folks checked the forums and found out that the manufacturer says it is not removable.  It is very hard to get the shade to clip into place.  Dad kept lowering the placement of  it so that he had more finger room.  It was difficult and several bad words were said.

Ready to see our new shade? 

Isn't it pretty?

Mama loves her new shade.  It has a black out feature which will help block the sun.  We are not sure how well it does that yet because it has been raining since it was put up.  She will really be happy when the remaining four are put up, but she doesn't have a clue when that will happen.  We only have one more weekend here and it doesn't sound like Dad wants to waste it putting up shades even though it would make Mama really happy and she would love to have it done before we go home.  Pssst....Dad if you are reading this, that is a big hint for you. If Mama is happy, we are all happy.  BOL

Dad thinks he has a different way to install the rest of them, but it involves another trip to Home Depot and even longer screws.  BOL   FYI:  Dad is actually really good at home repairs but motor homes are a totally different beast.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Glad That All He Has To Do Is Look Cute To Make Mama Happy

Home Alone With Brownies

Yesterday, Mama decided to make some brownies. Actually, they were a combination brownie and cookie.  She decided to use the oven instead of the microwave/convection oven because the microwave/convection oven really heats up the RV.  It just blows out the heat.  It is great in the winter, but not good in the summer.  It usually raises the temperature about five degrees or more in here and it takes our air conditioning a long time to cool it back down.  On a side note, remember when Mama said that you can't use the microwave right after using the convection oven?  Well, she was wrong.  It can be used right away and she does it all the time. 

Okay, so back to the brownie making.  She used the oven and it only caused the temperature in the RV to go up two degrees, so she will probably use the oven more often now.  She set the brownies out on the counter to cool and then the folks left for dinner.  Yep, she left them uncovered.  As they were paying the bill at the restaurant, Mama remembered the brownies and us.  She got really scared.   They rushed home and on the way she said "I'm sure they didn't eat them.  They don't touch food.  Oh, wait, Scout ate my spaghetti once."  Dad reminded her that there was a bunch of stuff on the floor in front of the counter and that might discourage us from getting near the counter.  (That is a whole other story that we will talk about later this week.) They pulled into our driveway and while Mama was running to get inside to check on us, she bumped her leg on the tow hitch on the car and now she has a big lump.  She opened the door and I was the only one who greeted her which is unusual.  I was licking the sides of my mouth.  She looked at Scout who still in bed and she was licking the side of her mouth.  Mama said "OH NO!"  She ran to the pan of brownies and they were untouched!  Yep, we did good!  We got lots of hugs for being good.  Why were we licking the outside of mouths?  I'm not telling.  BOL!

How were the brownies?  Well, something went really wrong with them.  They turned out to be very hard.  Dad had a heck of a time getting some out of the pan.  It was quite comical.  Dad said there is something sticky on the top of them.  He thought it was caramel.  Mama said it is a cookie dough mix that came in the box.  We don't know what happened to them.  No, really we don't.  Mama usually makes a decent brownie or at least that is what she says.  We are not allowed to have any since they are chocolate.

We think the tent campers are here to stay.  They brought in a dorm sized refrigerator, a cook top and they hung up misters.  They are having trouble with their screened area that goes over their picnic table.  The roof keeps falling in on them.

No luck in getting a decent photo of us for the contest.  Time is running out.

Mama is not going to start on the cross stitch project for a while.  It may be a winter project.  She has other projects going on right now.  She has been knitting with her looms again.

Our new battery for the laptop should be delivered here today.  We hope the battery is the problem and not the cord.  Mama has been on an ordering frenzy because we are leaving here in two weeks and we will not have mail service for at least a month after that.  Bully sticks are on their way, too!!!  We can't run out of those, you know.  They really do keep our teeth clean. Scout has never needed a dental and I'm looking good so far.  Yep, we love our bully sticks.  BOL

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Passed The Brownie Test

This And That

Mama heard about a photo contest for campers which means she is pestering us.

 

She has decided that this is not the look she wants and she should increase the resolution so that pictures are a better quality since it is for the cover of a magazine.  She says the pictures of me remind her of a Seinfeld episode in which George was trying to look sexy. Definitely not the look we want, Mama.

The tent campers are still here.  It rained really hard and their screened tent had issues with it.  The rain was too heavy for the roof and part of it collapsed.

Last night, we were visited by the ducks and two cats.

We have two more weeks here.  I hope something exciting happens because we need blog material.  BOL

Does anyone cross stitch?  Mama bought a pattern of a motor home.  There is currently a small dog in the window of it.  It actually looks like a cat, but the lady said it is supposed to be a dog.  Mama wants to take the dog/cat out and put in two greyhounds.  Anyone experienced with changing a cross stitch pattern?

Joey
The Greyhound Who Jumped On The Bed With The Folks Last Night But Wasn't Allowed To Stay  :-(

One Bed Is Gone!

It happened!  One of our beds has been put in storage in the basement of the motor home.  How rude!  Mama has been re-organizing and purging.  She took the divider out of the dinette bed and then she put our bed in storage.  She said "Kids, look at how much room you have now! Doesn't it look nice?"  We hate when she messes with our stuff.  Actually, we didn't use that bed much anyway and we rarely get on the dinette bed at the same time so that is why she took the divider out  We do get up there when the "Shark" comes out.  That is our vacuum.  We HATE the vacuum. Scout jumps from couch to couch.  We still have the bed on the floor, for now, and we both want that one. It is prime real estate, you know.

I have my own twin sized bed now, but I prefer the couch or the bed on the floor.

"It's my turn for the floor bed, Scout"

"I have squatter rights, Joey!"

The cactus or cacti, whatever it is called, has finally bloomed.  We thought the flowers would be red.  Is anyone else surprised?

Here is another one.  Bees were all over the flowers on this one.

The tent campers are still here.  It rained this morning, so that probably woke them up.  It looks like new people were supposed to show up last night because an envelop is on the office door with their name and site number.  They haven't arrived yet.  They are supposed to be one site over from us.  Yep, more people watching for us.  BOL!

Scout did some posing for the camera this morning.  She is such a ham!

That is about all the news from here.  Mama will work on more organizing next week.  She needs to buy more of those space bags for clothes.  She wants to organize the space underneath the dinette bed.  The bench seats are actually storage areas and right now it is stuffed full of coats, sweatshirts and dog toys.  She hopes she will have more space with the space bags.  When we go home for a visit, she wants to pick up her sewing machine and she hopes it will fit in that area.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Told He Should Be Happy With A Twin Sized Bed

Butterfly World & Remembering Blueberry

Mama had no plans on visiting Butterfly World.  She has visited two other butterfly places and she figured they were all the same.  An employee at Flamingo Gardens told her that if she loves hummingbirds, then she should visit.  She warned Mama that it was pricey $24.95 a person.  Mama told her that she had a buy one get one free admission. Mama loves coupons.

The reason Mama wanted to visit was due to the number of exotic birds that they have there.  They say they have seven different species of hummingbirds.  Mama had only seen the Ruby Red Throated Hummingbird in person and was very excited to see others.  She always hangs up our hummingbird feeders at our campgrounds in hopes of seeing something different.  The folks ended up seeing three of the seven species that they have.  They claim to have 100 hummingbirds, but they only saw three.  BOL!  They did see a lot of beautiful birds, so it was a fun day.

Mama bought an identification book since it was only $1.  She hoped to use it to identify them in the blog, but many of the birds that she saw are not listed. It is still nice to have though.

Mama said when you walked through the doors, you are surrounded by hundreds of butterflies.  The other two places that Mama has visited does not compare to this place at all.  It was amazing!  Unfortunately, the butterflies do not show up well in the photos.

The first room that you enter with butterflies. She swears they were flying all around.

One landed on Dad!

Okay, lets just move onto the birds since we can see them in photos.

Lady Gouldian Finch

A Lorikeet jumped on Dad's shoulder.

Parrots

Red-legged Honeycreeper

Male and Female Honeycreepers

Yellow-legged Honeycreeper

Not sure

???

Yellow-legged Honeycreeper - Female

Swinging bridge that leads to one of the buildings.

Mama did not get any decent photos of hummingbirds.  She really needs a better camera. 

As you can imagine, the place was full of beautiful flowers.

 The following are Passiflora.

Cuphea melvilla "Candy Corn"

The folks really liked this place.  It is huge with 13 different stops on the tour.  The butterfly portion of the tour was really crowded, but once they reached the buildings with the birds, it was almost empty.  I guess most people come for the butterflies.

On a very sad note, we want to send our condolences to my half sister, Bunny and her family.  Miss Blueberry has joined her Mom, Lilac, at the Rainbow Bridge.  We are so happy we were able to meet her in person last October.  Mama said we were rednecks and Blueberry and Bunny were the princesses.  If you would like to see our meeting, just click here.  There are some cute pictures of Blu. Blueberry was a beautiful girl.  We saw a comment from her Daddy once that said she was "the best dog EVER".  She is missed.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Sad For Bunny And Her Family

Flamingo Gardens

 The folks have talked about going to Flaming Gardens, but Mama didn't know if it would be worth the $18 per person admission price.  Mama was very excited when she found a site (www.sunny.org) with buy one admission get one free.  They decided to go on Saturday since the tropical wave didn't hit us.

  The property was owned by the Wray's before it was donated.  Their house, which was built in 1930's, is still on the property and it can be toured.

This is a 60 acre, not for profit, facility which has alligators, otters, flamingos, bobcats and also birds that inhabit the aviary and bird center.  The birds in the aviary are all birds that have been injured and cannot survive in the wild.

Are you ready for some pictures?

They were building a nest.

Another Saturday at the park for these two.

Notice how he relaxes.

Scout would have loved this guy.

Working on his nest.

Bald eagle - he was way in the back and it was hard to get a good photo.

Squirrel on top of sign - sorry about the flash in your eye Mr. Squirrel.

He was proud of his looks.

Mama and baby.

See the baby by the tree.  She had three babies.

Awww!!!

Busts of Mr. & Mrs. Wray.

The folks did tour the house, but Mama didn't take photos.  The Wrays' were very big into citrus growing and did quite well with it.

Mama visited the gift shop and bought a suncatcher.  It was only $6 on sale.  Mama told the gift shop employee that she loves hummingbirds.  The employee told Mama that she needs to go to Butterfly World because they have a lot there and they are not all the same species.  Mama was so excited that they went on Sunday.  We will talk about that tomorrow.

The suncatcher.

The tent campers are still here.  It only rained for a short time yesterday, so they didn't get too wet.

We had excitement here last night.  We had police cars outside our campground for about two hours.  A helicopter kept circling our campground.  Mama was concerned that whoever they were looking for was in our campground.  There are like 300 trailers that are here, but vacant for the summer so it would be easy for someone to hide in here.  The police never came inside the park. We don't know what happened, but it ended around 9 p.m.  We were on full alert when we took our last walk of the night.

 The biggest excitement for me was a cat.  He was right outside my window yesterday.  Notice my dripping nose.  It was quite exciting for me.  I whined a lot!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Thinks Cats Are Fascinating