Thanksgiving Day Plus Seven

As usual, I am behind on my writing again... but then I don't pay much attention to holidays anyway... unless there's a meal involved. So even though it probably doesn't mean much being seven days past the date, we do hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday, whether it was just the one day, a long weekend, or the entire week.

Other than Sharon playing Bingo at the clubhouse on Wednesday evenings, We really don't take part in too many group activities. We have been to one of the two group campfires this season. It was too windy one Saturday night, so they didn't have one that day.

Community meals are always an attraction for us, as we like the variety of foods that we normally wouldn't fix at home for just the two of us. On Thanksgiving Day there was a potluck meal at the clubhouse, with the park owners providing a huge turkey and ham. We heard that in past years they charged a minimal fee of $4 per person, but this year they had a higher number of residents through the summer and reservations are full for the winter months, so they decided to provide the meat free of charge. After all, it is a fairly small park, so they don't have a huge budget, and we understand that.

Thanksgiving dinner at the clubhouse, 2017.

The first room of the clubhouse was used as the staging area for the food, with one center table for the main course, and the countertop at the back for desserts. Another smaller table on the east wall was used as the prep table for cutting up the turkey and ham. From there, it was added to the warming trays on the main table.

Although I didn't try to keep up with a head count, I would guess there were about 30 people in attendance. I think I saw a few others come and fill plates to take back to their RVs, so it was hard to tell for sure exactly how many showed up. All of the tables were used in the second room, although not all places were taken. The room could have held a few more people, but the park is still not filled to capacity yet. Most of the pull-through sites across from us are still empty.

I didn't try to photograph the other room, and actually would have preferred to not get anyone in the photos, as I try to respect people's privacy. Within five minutes of the above photo being taken, everyone was lined up around the table pictured above, and were filling their plates with all the goodies. It was all very good!

We had rain most of Thanksgiving Day, and it had just let up enough that we could walk to the clubhouse without umbrellas. A few stray sprinkles were still coming down, but not enough to get us wet. We were equally as lucky when we left. We could have stayed longer to visit with other residents, but decided to leave as soon as we were done eating, and it was just as well. The sprinkles started getting heavier again as we left, but we made it back home just in time.

I'll keep the pictures to just the one for today. We are well beyond 15 gigs of data at the end of our plan month on our Verizon "unlimited", and they are throttling us back to unbelievably slow speeds again. I had mentioned on an earlier post that we didn't notice much difference, but I don't think they had started the throttling to 600 kbps yet. But I have noticed it in every month since that time!

We are having great weather through this weekend and into next week, with most days hovering around 79 to 80 degrees and reasonably low humidity. Later next week, it will cool off to temps in the mid to upper 60s and nights into the low 40s (which we assume is more normal for this time of year here in central Florida). Still, it's not bad.

We just had our 30# propane tank refilled early last week, and that should last us through most of December, considering we only run the Big Buddy catalytic heater for a few minutes in the morning to take the chill off. After that, our little electric heater at 750 watts, plus the sunshine, does most of the job. We have been able to operate our on-board 85# propane tank since last April 1st (for stove and water heater only), and will likely go out this weekend to have it refilled. The gauge is finally down to the empty mark, as of this week, but still running on fumes.

I am trying to take advantage of the warm weather and get things done outside, on the minivan and straightening up the stuff in the trailer. One thing I may pay the maintenance guy to do on his days off, is to clean the outside of the RV. As with most things that remain stationary in the south, mildew is a problem, and the fiberglass siding is showing signs of it. I could probably do it, but for the price he charges ($2 per linear foot), I prefer to let him do it. Maybe later, we will apply a coat of special fiberglass wax to delay the next buildup of mildew... but it will still come... eventually. It always does.

Since we don't buy much for Christmas, Black Friday has a whole different meaning for us, as that's usually a good time to wash the black mold/mildew off everything. Not fun, but necessary.

Other than that, we're just counting down days (and hopefully calories) before the next big meal at the clubhouse... probably at Christmas. We haven't heard yet what they do for New Years Eve or Day, so we'll see what happens in that regard, and report back later. We probably will reserve any sightseeing trips until after the holidays. We have already seen the increase in traffic and it's getting crazy out there.

We could be facing a "catch 22", though. Right now we know the increased traffic is because of the Christmas season. But many snowbirds wait until after the holidays to head south, so there might be just as much traffic after the holidays. Still, we want to get out and do some things this winter. After all, we only have five months until it will be time to head north for the summer, and it will go quick! We have a lot to accomplish between now and then!

As always we welcome all comments or thoughts. Thank you for using our links for your Christmas shopping, and remember, if you are in a RV park, the delivery services will deliver right to your campsite if you give them your name and site number with the park's street address. There's no reason not to order online! We do it all the time so we don't have to fight the crowds and traffic, and to save money by being able to compare prices and get things much cheaper than in the stores!

Also, if you are near a Walmart, you can purchase many things online that they don't even stock in the stores, and have it delivered to the store for pickup! So it doesn't really matter where you are, you can always get everything you need online and be able to receive it... one way or the other.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe and well through the holidays!.