August 8.......

I returned to Florida, to the camper at St. Andrews S.P. Hated to leave all the family but happy to be back to the camper & Sam & Buddy. Here's some thoughts about Georgia, copied from my Facebook page:

I was raised in Georgia, where you can use the ‘hootch or the Big Chicken for directions. We visit the Atlantic Ocean, Jekyll Island, and Paula Deen in Savannah. We cherish azaleas and dogwoods in the spring and magnolias all summer. We take pilgrimages to the mountains in the fall to see the leaves and keep our babies home from school if it snows. We love the Dawgs, Jackets, Braves & Falcons, Krispy Kreme, Vidalia onions, peaches, boiled peanuts, and a large Frosted Orange. We celebrate the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta and the country’s first gold rush in Dahlonega. We play football, fish in mountain streams, kayak in the Okefenokee, camp, hunt and surf. All soft drinks are called COKE!

Two stadiums: Atlanta Fulton County Stadium and Turner Field
(1997, before the old one was imploded!)
The Georgia Dome in upper left background where the Falcons play.

Merry Christmas!

Snow on the beast on Christmas Day, 2010....

Just starting and still going a few hours later!

Winter Wonderland!

Christmas Eve 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're in Buford, Ga. for Thanksgiving dinner at my Mother's house. Ate waaaaay too much. Sister-in-law Helen, from Asheville, NC, cooked and/or assembled the entire dinner on Wednesday night and it was delicious: Turkey breast, dressing & gravy, squash casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes (by brother Jim), and sweet potato casserole with marshmallows (by Mother). I brought the Pecan Pie and biscuits (and washed the dishes - LOL!)

Buddy and Lacey in the kitchen, patiently waiting for a few crumbs to drop to the floor!

Wednesday night we had dinner at Scott and Angelia's and played with the grand kids. Ethan had a new bike and Kenzie (helped by Buddy) played Nintendo.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow....not sure what we will be doing....certainly eating leftovers. Love a good turkey sandwich!

Welcome our newest followers.....Randy & Kim and Karen! Enjoy the ride!

Miscelaneous going-ons....

We're at Samantha's in Georgia for a few days. It was a pretty easy drive up I-75, about 7 hours (arrived Wed. afternoon) and we stopped 3 times. When traveling with a doggie, you stop according to 'his' schedule! ;-)

Yesterday we went over to Carrollton to do few errands and last night I went with Samantha to Douglasville for some grocery shopping. I had 5 prescriptions filled at Kroger (all $4 generics) and with my five $25 K-Mart gift card coupons which Kroger accepts, I was able to get $125.00 in Kroger "Rx Rewards" and that meant $125 of FREE groceries for $20 in prescriptions! Samantha was able to get most of her supplies for her Thanksgiving dinner and we got enough food to last the rest of the week at her house. I LOVE Kroger but there are none in Florida.......ugh! I always stock up on their toilet paper and usually they have the Tyson boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale and Cokes, too! (As for my "Pantry Purge", I donated 3 Publix shopping bags full of miscellaneous food items to a good cause!).

Today we are just hanging out at her house, babysitting tonight for her to go to a friend's party. Nathan is working out of town until next Wednesday. Tomorrow we may ride out to John Tanner (formerly State) Park to see what's happening out that way......and check out another couple of campgrounds in the area. Sunday is the last NASCAR race and then the Falcons are on at 4:00. We will meet up with my BFF, Judy, and have a late lunch and watch the race somewhere.......maybe TGI Fridays near the mall in Douglasville. Monday we hope to meet up with Karen of FabGrandma for lunch or coffee, also in Douglasville. So far, Tuesday is free and the boys are out of school for the week. Guess we'll do something with them all.

We plan to go to my mother's in Buford on Wednesday morning for Thanksgiving with DB Jim and DSIL Helen (from Asheville, NC) and their pup Lacey.....and DS Scott and his family who live nearby. We'll stay there until Monday, when we go back to Florida............but just for about 3 weeks, when we will come back for Christmas and do it all over again! ;-)

View from my dining room window.....

Panoramic picture of view from the "dinning room" window.

Our site is on the end of a row looking across at the by-the-night area. Most of these guys are traveling and arrive in the afternoon, set up, walk the dogs, go eat somewhere, then leave the next morning. A few will stay a couple of nights. Some have children, mostly grand kids from the looks of them, and they might stay 2 or 3 days to enjoy the pool and go to Ruby Falls.



Occasionally there will be a club meeting. This weekend was a group from "Good Sam" camping club. They meet and eat potluck dinners in the conference room.

Got a new book from Amazon this week. _Best Backroads of Florida_, The Heartland Volume 1, by Douglas Waitley. It's copyright year 2000 but has good interesting history. Hopefully most of the roads will still be passable when we visit this fall/winter.

Who's been here?

My wish is that everyone who clicks on my blog would leave a comment. I know this is impossible but I'd really like to know who is reading and what you think. And it's a good way to keep in touch with everyone.

In over two years, there has been over 7500 'visitors' to my blog but I only know a few of you. Bloggers really love to get comments.......good, bad, or indifferent. I always try to leave a little note when I read blogs to let them know I was there and enjoyed (or not) their thoughts, opinions, etc. Speak up and let me know! Thanks in advance. :-)

That said, here are 4 wallpaper borders I'm considering for the camper to replace the ugly factory installed grape (?) motif. Keep in mind I am looking for the old-world, slightly worn, 50's-60's Florida look. The curtain, valances, cornice boards, furniture, etc., will eventually be changed with matching colors, prints, etc. The basic wall color will remain the same.

Here are a couple of pics of the original wallpaper border and the cornice covering and swag curtain. Very dull and boring. This border is 5 and 7/8" wide.

The first two borders are 8" wide and the second two are 6" wide. Either size will work.

#1

#2

#3

#4

I've already decided on which one I like but would love to hear your opinions.

9 Weeks to go (on Friday).....

Just 9 more weeks to go before we leave this area and head south. Time has gone pretty fast, so far. Looking forward to moving on. Not planning on staying so long in one place any more - unless we want to. Not planning on any more government jobs. Just a few volunteer positions at places we want to be. We're looking at St. Andrews SP in PC Beach or Big Lagoon SP, near Pensacola, for volunteer spots next summer (2011). We're already scheduled for John Tanner SP (GA) as campground host for Nov/Dec. 2011.

The next couple of months, we're planning a few mods to the camper. We've already replaced the solid white screen door slide with a clear one and added clear Lexan over the screens in order to leave the solid door open and keep the a/c or heat inside. I like being able to see out. This is much better. It's hard to tell the difference in the picture except for the slide opening, which is now clear instead of white. There are two Lexan (similar to Plexiglas) panels covering the screen, attached with white, industrial strength Velcro. Lowes cut the panels to fit and Sam rounded the top corners with the jigsaw and sanded smooth. The Velcro allows them to be removed, if necessary, for cleaning or if we just want screens in the fall or spring.
(Also added the handle. Something to grab instead of the slider),

Also added a shampoo/soap dispenser to the shower. Love the convenience of no bottles. Works great!

Another sweltering day of 99! So much for being in the mountains. I checked the elevation on World Atlas. This area is actually at a lower elevation than Samantha's (in Douglas County) or Mother's (in Gwinnett County).

Catoosa County, GA, and the surrounding area, including Chattanooga in Hamilton County, TN, has an average elevation of between 670' and 810', with a few areas over 1000. Of course, Lookout Mountain is the exception. Besides Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, there are no mountains around here. Elevation in Douglas and Gwinnett Counties average around 1065' to 1090'. Lake Lanier (our lake) in Gwinnett and Hall County, GA, is shown as 1076' at the Dam. Corps of Engineers calls it 1070' at full pool.

FYI, elevation at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, FL, is 3'! ;-) I'm lovin' it.

Is it just mine, or are all grand children beautiful??

At "home" in Georgia

Kyle's birthday #6 at John Tanner State Park

We've been at John Tanner State Park in Carrollton, Georgia, since Oct. 1st. We are currently the extra (3rd) set of campground hosts. All we do is work the paddle boat concession on the weekends from 11:00 to 6:00, weather permitting. This weekend is COLD (30's tonight) so no boaters today and probably not tomorrow! There are about 20 sites taken by a group from the YMCA and they are mostly in tents.....brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

On November 1st, we'll move to the official Host site and do more general duties during the week like taking $$ for late arriving campers, selling firewood/ice, clean up sites, etc. Hopefully the internet service will be better since that site is up the hill, on higher ground.

Next weekend is the Fall Festival here in the park so we are hoping for nice weather. There will be hayrides, bonfire with hot chocolate, s'mores, ghost stories and spooky night hikes; Trick-or-treating at designated campsites and a movie under the stars. Smoky the Bear will be here to help out, too. Lots of fun stuff.........anyone in the Carrollton area, come on out 5:30 to 9:30 pm.

Carrollton is a great little city with every store, restaurant and fast food joint you can thing of. Lots of shopping opportunities with plenty of deals for couponers! Best of all, we're close to family and have already had numerous visits to and from kids and grandkids. Looking forward to holidays with them all nearby!

Finding Dawgs in Georgia......

While I was in Georgia, I actually passed by the Varsity 6 times without stopping. Of course, I did have a couple of other hot dog joints in mind.

First was the Dawg House, a nicely remodeled, former fast food joint, that reopened in January 2009. The theme is the Georgia Bulldog and it is really cute. Dining is outside at the picnic tables under the umbrellas.

The sign says they are famous for their foot-longs but Logan and I had the regular size dogs with chili and slaw. Oddly enough, the 'buns' were hoagie rolls which was way too much bread for the skinny foot long dog, cut in half, inserted in the roll. The chili was also lost in the roll and the slaw was not exceptional. I saved the menu but can't find it now. I just remember that the $5.99 price for the regular dog was too much.

The owners obviously spent a lot of money on the remodeling and the desired look - they should spend more on developing a killer Dawg. We won't be back.

Logan looking like "one mean Dawg!"
Next was our long time favorite, Mickey's, in old downtown Buford just across the railroad tracks. Their chili slaw dogs are to die for and we took home a sackful! We weren't disappointed!

Back from Georgia

After 5 weeks visiting family and friends in Georgia, I'm now back at the camper in Del Rio, Texas. The campground is only about 1/3 full and many of those are empty campers, used only occasionally by their (local) owners for fishing weekends. The campground is green and really looks nice. We moved to a site with lots of green grass and several palm trees. Last week the weather was brutal with highs 98 to 101. This week is much better with highs around 90 and overcast at times. We'll be here another 8 weeks until 7/10. That is our target departure date.

We ride bikes in the mornings and in the evenings. Too bad no one comes here in the summer because of the heat. It's much prettier than the winter months. I'll try to post some pictures. The internet service is worse at this site than it was at the other site, so pictures take a long time. I may take the computer into town on Friday because service is much better there.

In the meantime, just wanted to say HI to everyone. I had a great time in Georgia!

I did get some pictures downloaded. The first three are our frontyard.

This is the site next to us. The guys are turning on the in-ground sprinklers.

Chillin' in Georgia

I haven't posted for a while but I am in Georgia visiting with family. Been here for 2 weeks and have 3 weeks left on my visit. Time is flying by. I must admit that I do prefer the weather in Texas right now vs. Georgia. We're having a lot of storms and rain and tornado warnings around Atlanta. But all in all, it's great to be here in the Spring with the dogwoods and azalea's in bloom. Can't wait to get back permanently to the GA/FLA area!

Thanks to all the rain, Lake Lanier is up about 10 feet and is only 8 feet below full pool. Here are some pics at Mother's lake house.

February already!

Monday, February 2nd - 7:33AM - GENERAL BEAU LEE DOESN'T SEE SHADOW; PREDICTS EARLY SPRING!

Every year, General Beau Lee, Ph.D., from the Yellow River Game Ranch in Snellville, GA, awakens to the ringing of the antique bell outside his "Weathering Heights" mansion, where he lives in touch with the elements year 'round-- unlike his pampered counterpart in Pennsylvania who lives in a climate-controlled environment in the town library where he is fed dog food and ice cream. That's why Beau can claim a 94% accuracy rating while the pampered impostor can only manage 85%.

Beau's House

We couldn't be home in Georgia this year to see General Lee on TV live, but we were able to follow him on the web!

Project 365 Day 48

Toys on Christmas morning!

Project 365 Day 36

#1 Granddaughter........see you Wednesday!

Photo Hunt for Saturday and Project 365 Day 34

Photo Hunt theme for this week is Favorite

Christmas Cookies with the Grandkids......always a favorite!

The finished product

We are in Winston, GA, visiting with our Daughter and her family for a week or so. Then it's over to my Mother's in Buford, GA and our Son's in Flowery Branch, GA. Just hanging out with the grandkids and doing a little shopping and running errands. I'll get some pictures posted later (after I take some!).

~ Project 365 Day 22 ~

Moving Day

From John Tanner State Park in Carrollton GA....with a stop at MacD's for breakfast......


To cousin's Marilyn's in Chipley, Florida.....

~ Project 365 Day 13 ~

This is a copy of the land grant from the War Department for 160 acres given for service in the American Revolution to my great, great, great, great grandfather in 1818. He choose Greene County, Georgia, and lived there with his wife Mary until his death in 1848. He was 85 years old. John Shaw 1763-1848

~ Project 365 Day 12 ~

Couldn't resist one more chili dog!

~ Letter to the Honorable Sonny Perdue, Governor of Georgia ~

Dear Sonny,

I don’t want to see on TV, read about, or hear another !*&%*^! word about the !*&%*^! scallops or oysters or clams or any other slimy (yet tasty) creature in Apalachicola Bay, Florida. Lake Lanier in northeast Georgia can not give them any more water! The dock in the first picture is my Mother’s dock in front of her house on Lake Lanier. The boathouse is supposed to be hooked to the dock, not 40 feet down a hill.

The dock....high and dry

The drought in Georgia has taken a toll on the area lakes, and this one in particular. Florida keeps yelling about more fresh water needs to be sent down the Chattahoochee River (which they call the Apalachicola River after it crosses the border) to keep the scallop and oyster beds alive. If Lake Lanier dies (and it’s pretty close now) just as many people in Georgia will be out of work as in Florida. There are marinas, boat dealers, restaurants, rental homes, boat repair shops, boat dock workers/builders, campgrounds, etc., all relying on the lake for their businesses……not to mention the decline in property value for home owners on the lake. All the recreational value of the lake to Atlanta and the surrounding area has dried up. People are afraid to go sailing or jet skiing because the water is so shallow and the Corps of Engineers can’t mark all the hazardous areas fast enough. And who would want to go swimming in that, even if you could make your way down to the water’s edge through the gunk?

Come on Sonny. Hold your position and don’t give up any more water. You wimped out on the flag issue but don’t wimp out on this!

Sincerely,
Susan Shepard, a concerned Georgia citizen.

This picture shows the second dock which is totally grounded while down below is the floating dock and pontoon boat.

Looking to the left along the shore

Looking to the right along the shore

Footnote: These pictures show only one cove on the lake, which has 700 miles of shoreline. The entire lake is in very bad shape.