Let's Put RICK to Work!!!!

This morning we started off our day having coffee together-Rick, Cathy and I and the planning of our day. Rick decided  whereas Brent was working-it would be nice of him, to get on the pretty green John Dear lawn tractor and mow all the property. Cathy and I discussed how Rick would have to take down the pretty new light fixture he installed yesterday, because he didn't realize there was a chip in the corner of it during said installation. (Men never seem to notice these things-we sure did after he had it all installed). And considering we had to exchange it at the store, we may as well do some shopping while we're out there. We arrived back around 4pm (the light fixture for exchange was still in the trunk) and we had mega parcels. We hit quite a few stores today, new sheets, treats for the furkids, a couple of new purses for me, new flops for Cathy and a host of other needed items :). By the time we got back home Brent was home from work so off we all went to Lowe's to exchange the fixture, purchase a new flush for one of their bathrooms, and earlier Cathy and I had been to a lighting store and picked up a new ceiling fan for their bedroom and a new ceiling fixture for the sitting area of their bedroom. So tomorrow Rick has to install a toilet, and three lighting fixtures. That ought to keep him busy. I'm thinking we'll rest tomorrow, and shop again on Thursday. Yup thats a good plan. Our furkids are enjoying being with Duffy.

Heres another picture of the handsome boy Duffy today-hard to believe hes almost 14

Rick and I also made a purchase at Lowe's today -here is what we picked up and needless to say we fired it up on their back deck to give it a try, during happy hour. 

Yup we bought a Webber Grill

We have part of their circular driveway looking like an RV Park

How's that for a view off the deck while firing up some burgers!! They sure live on a gorgeous Lake

It was another hot sunny day spent with wonderful friends. We are certainly enjoying our time here. We are having an rv related problem. We are hooked up to their outside tap but we think there is a problem with the fill valve as the fresh water tank keeps filling up and coming out the over flow. So we shut the water off and will try use up what is in the fresh water tank and Rick will have to find some time in his busy day tomorrow to take that apart and check things out. I'm hoping its an easy fix.

Take care all, thanks for stopping by, stay safe out there and remember:

"Home is where you park it"

Family Visit-Expect the Unexpected with Us!!!

Wow I am behind in my posts to say the least. We arrived in Hendersonville, NC early Tuesday afternoon-to my cousin Patricia's (and husband Steve's) home where my aunt Kay lives. Of course the minute she heard the rig turn the corner she was out waving on the lawn. That first hug felt like a warm soft homemade quilt and was so full of love and emotion. Today she turns 85 years old, she sure doesn't look or act it. 

Aunt Kay and I

To just offer a wee bit of history-she is my dad's sister (he passed suddenly at the age of 57) had only one brother (my dad who was the oldest of the family) and she had 7 younger sisters. And my gram passed away suddenly when she was 13 and my dad was 14. My gram was also 8 months pregnant at the time. She is the only surviving Aunt-the others are all gone. She met me when I was very little but I have no recollection of ever meeting her-so this was one very special visit in my heart. Needless to say I had a lot of historical questions and she had all the answers. I would just sit and drink her in at times. The visit was a great success and it was hard to leave. I had never met her children-and Patricia is a darling as is her husband-and I met their daughter and grandchildren also.

Aunt Kay and her beautiful daughter Pat

Aunt Kay and her great grandson Samuel

Alicia (Pat's daughter) with her daughter Ameila

Darling Ameila

Handsome Samuel

While in the area we visited the Biltmore Estate..what a place that was. 

Very very interesting estate...a lot of History there for sure. The Vanderbilts sure knew how to build a home. We got to tour the total inside which was very very interesting. At one time they had upwards of 40 servants who were treated very well.
On Friday:
We said our sad goodbyes to Aunt Kay and Family, and motored onto Shelby NC to visit with friends Cathy and Brent. We have been having a blast ever since. They hosted a party on Saturday evening and it was great fun. What a great bunch of people-I think I got to bed at 3:30am. Sunday morning we had a big breakfast with C&B and another friend who spent the night ..Gary. Gary is a corporate pilot for a big corporation. He took us on a tour of the hangers and planes that he flies. Rick was mighty impressed..we then all went to Gary's for a wonderful supper.

Global by Bombardier-Gary and Rick

Nice private Plane

Checking things out under the plane

A sofa in the plane-makes into a bed

Co-Pilot

Pilot :)

Gary and Rick

Look Honey a sofa in case I have too many cocktails

Needless to say we were quite impressed! Gary has a wonderful life/Job and has travelled the globe. Tomorrow he leaves for Germany. Now thats the way to live.


Hey folks meet McDuff-when I was in the breeding showing and raising of golden retrievers McDuff is from two of my special show stock. Josie and Mac..McDuff lives with our friends Cathy and Brent in NC-he will be 14 this Nov.10th. What a boy-he has been everything from a hospital sitter, and a certified therapy dog to a teacher. He helped children who were at risk of failing the grade 1 school year due to the lack of reading skills-he performed a one on one in a non judgemental environment with each child to help build confidence. What an amazing boy and how proud he has made us his breeders, and Cathy and Brent his owners, and he has proven to us what a wonderful blood line we produced and perfected. Mind you he has had very special owners, who worked with him and trained him.

Mr. Wonderful-McDuff

So as you can all see we have been busy. It has been a wonderful past few months of travelling and visiting. I have been staying in touch with you all reading your blogs. Some of you are home, some are on their way home and some are packing up to get ready to head home. We will be doing the same. We plan to be home in NB by the 3rd week in April.


Thanks for stopping by, I know this has been a long blog-but I had quite a bit to cram into it-and for that I apologize. 


Be safe out there and remember


"Home is where you Park it"

A Hairy Drive Today!!

We are safe and sound parked up in Commerce GA...but what a ride today. We left Alabama around 9:30 and for the first part of the drive- traffic was bearable. We took the by pass around Atlanta, and it was unreal. At times we were boxed in by 5 tractor trailers, in 6 lanes wide of traffic. Not sure my nerves can handle this sort of travel. Thankfully Rick is a very good cautious driver, I just shiver in my seat. It seems everyone in Al and GA can't drive without a cell phone glued to their ear. We saw more vehicles with cell phone drivers then not..go figure and how in heck do you concentrate on your driving while talking on a phone. 

Tomorrow we head for Hendersonville NC to visit with my Aunt Kay. I am so excited..as I have no recollection of ever meeting her. She did meet me when I was little. My dad had 8 sisters and they all relocated to the US when they grew up. My dad stayed local and he was the only boy and the oldest in the family and was only 14 when his mom passed away. Aunt Kay is the only one left of this large family and I am so excited to meet her and my cousins that I am not sure I'll sleep tonight. This picture is of my dad and 7 of his 8 sisters. They are all gone now except for Aunt Kay the one sitting next to dad in the blue and white stripped dress. This is the last family picture which was taken two months before Daddy passed away unexpectedly. 


So I am pretty excited about sitting down for a good chin wag with her!! So excited that I had to burn off energy so I got busy in the 88F weather today and hauled out the green machine and scrubbed all my carpets in the MH so the time would pass faster.


Take care all, stay safe out there and thanks for stopping by.


Home is Where you Park it!!

Travel Day!!

We are parked in Helena just outside of Birmingham Al. I purchased the wifi for a day thinking it would be faster than our airsticks...NOT...so I can't upload pictures..and I'm having trouble posting on blogs. I can read them all fine but when I go to comment everything drags. Anyway glad to read your all doing well..I did get to comment on some of you but not many-then blogger said I had to sign in...so figuring I fell 'off' I re-entered my login and password..not valid!! What??? Its been valid for years..it wanted a cell phone number to text or voice me a new verification code and I could not log on without it-there was no way to bypass it either. What a pickle! 

I closed my blog page and reopened it and yes again it asked for my login and password..it was NOT valid!

I hated to give my us cell number but I wanted to finish reading blogs so I did and someone texted me a code..and it was NOT valid..so I rebooted my machine opened blogger and it said 'log out'..so I knew I was on...all that frustration for nothing...now probably by the time I finish and publish this blog every single telemarketer in the world will have my darn cell number. Anyway-nice to see Kelly and Al are into the paint bucket and that motor is showing somewhat of an improvement...Bren looks like you folks had a great time horsing around for your birthday :)...and Contessa is having too much fun to find time to blog...Karen glad to see your mom was able to get out and is feeling better..Donna enjoy your last couple of weeks with those precious grands.

This morning we left Mississippi. Becky and Matt came over early this morning to say good bye. It was so hard to hug and kiss them and leave. It seemed for the first couple of hours every mile I shed a tear or two because we were driving farther away from them :(...I dont' know where the time went during our visit but it sure sped by us all. I am thankful we had the opportunity to visit. But I sure do miss them.

Tomorrow we head on our way for our 2nd travel day. We are hoping to get to Commerce GA in good time. I'm not looking forward to going anywhere near Atlanta I've heard such horror stories..I doubt I'll sleep tonight. Rick is watching that new show "frozen planet" on the discovery channel and it sure sounds like he is enjoying it.So I think I'll slip on out of here and head for the shower.

 We are heading to NC..and I'm very excited as we will be making a stop in Hendersonville to visit with my aunt Kay and her family. I have never met her, apparently she has met me when I was little. She is my dad's sister and the only one left, so I'm pretty excited about that. We hope to be there by Tuesday. After Hendersonville we are heading to Shelby NC area to visit with friends for a few days, then over to Savannah to meet up with friends from down home. Then we will be homeward bound also.

Take care all, and stay safe as I know some of you are on the road to home. Heres hoping I dont' get a ton of telemarketing calls through out the night...

Home is where you park it!!

Mama Hamil's....

Today we were up bright and early, enjoying our coffee and trying to read blogs and catch up with everyone. We left here around noon and headed over to Becky and Matt’s to meet up for brunch. We had lunch at “Mama Hamil’s” and a fantastic lunch it was. Of course there was corned beef and cabbage dinner on the buffet and of course I had some. Mama Hamils  is like a big barn two levels, and a massive buffet. The food was delicious. So if your ever in the Ridgeland MS area be sure to make a stop there for some good eating.

My baby and Me..

Rick Becky and I

Tractor outside Mama Hamils

A lonely Sail boat against a beautiful sunny sky

The kids then took us for a drive to see some of the areas around the Reservoir. Becky had to be to work for 3pm so we returned to their place around 2:30pm. Rick and I headed off for a visit to wally world to pick up some supplies as tomorrow is ‘heading out day’. It will definitely be hard to leave these kids tomorrow and I know I’ll be leaving a piece of my heart behind. Take care all and have a blessed Sunday!! Our next post will be from Helena Alabama (Birmingham area).

Home is where you Park it...!!

Happy Saint Paddy's Day to you All!!!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to each and everyone of you!!


May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!

Gorgeous Weather!!!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

The weather here in Mississippi has been fabulous! 

Its been a great visit with our kids. It will be so hard to leave here come Sunday morning, at which time we will motor on to Alabama making our way toward North Carolina. It is sad when you are starting the loop toward home. But there is still a lot of excitement ahead for us. Visiting great friends in NC..then meeting friends from home over in Savannah Ga for a few days, and a possible stop over for a couple of days in Myrtle Beach. 

We have been so busy this past week, I can’t even remember all that we’ve done with the kids. But it has been non stop! We are soaking up all the time we can with them. I think I’ve gained about 10 lbs from dinners at their home, at our home, and dining out.

Shopping: Yes Becky and I have been doing a lot of that..and Rick and I went shopping the other day...to this place? Except this wasn’t a fun shopping trip but it could have been a lot worse than it was. Yes a rock flew off a truck tire and hit our car windshield. Hopefully the repair will stop it from spreading until we get back home to Canada.

While the furkids were at a groomer yesterday -Becky and I had another mother daughter day..we went to a spa and had manicures and pedicures.  Yup we have pretty toes and fingers!! 

Last evening we went for dinner at  Longhorn’s to celebrate Matthew’s birthday. Happy Birthday Matty and may you have many many more. It was great to be able to celebrate with you.

Check out that desert-wowser

Today I thought it a good day to .......

Yup defrost the fridge and freezer...now theres a job for you! I contemplated doing it at 3am this morning as I couldn’t sleep (for the 2nd night in a row)..but thought I might make too much racket and wake the furkids and the hubby.

Here we are parked up at Timberlake Camp Ground right on the reservoir in Brandon Mississippi about ten minutes from where our kids live in Ridgeland. Nice spacious lots, with pads and patio, grill, great pool area, tennis courts, and no charge for visitors, with a  good rate at 24.00/night. 

We spent the afternoon and evening with our kids-I sponged off their wifi to do the blog and read up on yall...take care and be safe out there...thanks for stopping by!! And a Great big Happy St. Paddys' day to yall....


"Home is where you park it"

Finally an Update!! Still in Mississippi

Friday Becky and I had a girls day out-we went shopping-I'm sure she had me in every store that was open. I did manage to find a grocery store during our travels to stock up. I bbq'd supper for us all here at the rig. Then we headed over to the kids place to visit for awhile. The rain was so torrential coming back across the Spillway we couldn't see 5 ft ahead of us. Good thing we didn't have far to drive to get home.


Saturday we went to the Jackson Zoo. Becky loves giraffes needless to say we thought we were going to have to put her on a leash when she saw this cute fellow.

Not to bore you with zoo pictures but I have to say this fellow was amazing..we could have watched him play for hours. Big cats are at the top of Rick's list so I almost had to leash him up with Becky.

Daddy and his girl.

Becky and Matt

We popped into a nice steak house for supper, then all headed home and crashed. 
Sunday Becky and I had another girls day out. We went shopping again :) Before we left I had put a spaghetti sauce into the crock pot to simmer for the day. After shopping we came back to the rig loaded up supper and headed over to the kids place. We visited and watched tv for the evening. Today the kids are back to work and we are just puttering around the rig cleaning and waxing. It is a beautiful hot day with a nice breeze. We leave here Sunday and head our way toward NC. I'm not looking forward to leaving our daughter and son in law and sure wish they didn't live so far away. 
Thanks for stopping by and be safe out there...
"Home is where you park it"

A Day in Vicksburg MS!! Visiting Family!

It has been a busy time since our arrival. Our drive down to Mississippi was uneventful (thankfully)..we arrived here on Tuesday, met our daughter and son in law for supper. Yesterday we came to their house and I did up our laundry then we went shopping. We had supper at Logan's Steakhouse. Today the four of us headed to Vicksburg to tour the area-what a great little town that is. Lots of casino's-we did some shopping and had supper at Cracker Barrel. Our son in law Matt works in Vicksburg for the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), so we got to also see his workplace.

We headed back to Ridgeland and picked up the furkids and we are visiting at Matt and Becky's home for the evening. 

Our pretty Becky

Sign when we entered Mississippi on Tuesday

Vicksburg MS

Thanks for stopping by folks and be safe out there.
"Home is Where you Park It.!"

Ridgeland Mississippi-and Lovin it!!

New Orleans was 'fantastic'..we headed into town on Sunday for the day in the french quarter!! Bourbon Street and surrounding area was so much fun! 

Parked up at Ponchartrain Landing in New Orleans

Back view of the Clubhouse and Bar at resort

Resort Pool

Back view of the Bar/clubhouse area 

Ponchartrain Landing in NO is a great resort-gated, secure and very new. Lovely landscaping and everyone was very friendly. The bar was great fun and open from 3pm until midnight or later if you wanted it to be. I would definitely stay here again-the resort provided for 5.00/person/return a mini bus into the french quarter they drop you off at 10 am and you can get picked up at a designated area at 4pm and if you want to stay longer they send a shuttle out again at 8pm. We chose not to stay after dark so Rick and I and Carol and Bill returned on the 4pm shuttle. 

bar at resort

resort pool 

Some Pictures of Downtown New Orleans - French Quarter

bands on the streets for tips

Parked up at Ponchartrain Landing

Rick Bill Carol and I in a pub downtown New Orleans

Beautiful architecture

They wash the streets downtown NO with machines and spray soap everywhere I did ask our waitress where we had lunch why they did that every couple of hours-she told me that it was due to the smell of the sewers that were under the streets. After they washed the streets there was an 'orange' scent in the air! 

Monday we toured the San Francisco Plantation..another fab day-it was in Berryville out west of New Orleans..the mansion was gorgeous it was right on the Mississippi River. This property was purchased by an oil company and the house was restored (in the 70s)..we do love plantations. Rain water was gathered in those 'cisterns' and gravy fed into the mansion-therefore this mansion had running water.

the ceiling in the dining room

Our tour guide

big wrap around covered verandas

I could picture the southern belles arriving in horse drawn carriages and entering up over the stairs for a ball

Main doors on 2nd storey that were opened for  arrival of guests

Original old living oak trees

I really wanted to take pictures of the inside of this mansion but it was not permissible. But pictures or no pictures it will always be vivid in my mind. The architecture of this place was amazing. 

Today we motored onto Mississippi to Timberlake RV Resort right on the Ross Barnett Reservoir. Very nice resort but when I booked here they told me there was wifi at the site and there isn't. All resorts say there is wifi at the site..and it seems there never is. I do have my Canadian Telus stick with me but it is very slow. Currently we are at our daughter and son in law's home so I tagged onto their wifi to play catch up with you all. We will be here for 12 days so I may get my US verizon stick activated as I can't imagine no wifi or a slow canadian stick for 12 days. Take care all and stay safe out there!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Home is where you park it!