Nice Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving yesterday with family. That is, family that is local without Patty and her family who were certainly missed. We arrived at Brian's house at around 2:30 PM and the rains held off for the entire day. We had very cool weather though, and some pretty hefty wind at times. We didn't get to enjoy the usual gathering outside around the table but just found room around the inside tables and counters to enjoy the wonderful meal. These photos were the best chance to get everybody getting ready to go through the food line before settling at the table in the kitchen or outside - braving the chilly air and occasional wind:

Everything was delicious and, of course, there was too much food as always.

Maybe we will have a larger family group next year if we can get Patty and her family to finally make the move to Arizona.

Next on the agenda is to get Josie ready to begin work again at the flower shop. That occasion is on for tomorrow as she starts back at Sun City Florists for another season. I hope to have an update on that after tomorrow....

Ready for Thanksgiving

This was a shot of the sunset last night on the eve of Thanksgiving:

The AZ skies are so beautiful.

We received a nice Thanksgiving gift from Patty - a tin can of delicious home made chocolate chip cookies - that were better than any we have ever tasted before. Keep that recipe, Patty.

We will travel to Brian's house this year for Thanksgiving dinner. The plan is too arrive there at around 2 PM and have a nice afternoon with the family's, including Cot & Lois. It was suppose to rain yesterday, today and tomorrow but the forecast was revised to have rain only this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow. That's fine with us. We will get some pretty fierce winds though as part of the storm. There should also be some good football on TV this afternoon after we welcome Santa Claus into town at Macy's in New York.

Have a great day everybody and we'll catch you again down the road...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lots and Lots of Rain

We have had enough rain over the last three days to last for six months. According to the local measurements, we had about 2.50" in our area. There was also some lightening and thunder to go along with the rain and it made for some tough sleeping the last two nights - for Josie. I can't hear all the thunder, but did see some of the lightening. I wanted to post these photos of the storms to show how it looked while all the rain was dumping:

Notice the nice crop of oranges and lemons we are getting this year. We took most of the furniture off the open patio during the storms and moved it under the covered portion. Today, we will replace all the furniture and enjoy the sunshine again....

New Blog Practices

As a result of our decision to stay close to home for a while, we will not be doing the blog every day as we have tried to do in the past. There just isn't enough "new" and exciting activity to report and I don't want it to become so boring that our readers will stop checking on updates. It may still get boring, but you won't have to read the same stuff everyday. I will try to keep it relevant to our activities that may be of interest. At any rate, you will not see entries every day as I have tried to do in the past. This is a new chapter in our lives - one that involves some new direction and a lot less travel.

We plan to try to sell the RV and the truck. I will place ads in the RV "for sale" columns (of which there are many) and hope to get an interested party that wants to start RVing but don't know what to buy to get started. Both vehicles are in good shape, although not new. A person can save thousands by purchasing the combination and this one works! Hopefully, we will find a buyer.

There are many other areas we are downsizing and will try to keep everybody posted on the significant changes.

I apologize for not committing to daily entries, but it is time to rethink our future plans. It is interesting to note that a couple that we have been following ever since we began our adventure almost 12 years ago has decided to settle down in the Villages in Florida and have stopped their full-time lifestyle after 15 years. They are Howard and Linda Payne and are the founders of RV-Dreams.com that has become a national RVing institution. Their life on the road has been an inspiration and a rewarding experience to follow during our 12 years.

We'll still be interested in RVing - always will - and will most likely obtain a smaller RV down the road to continue to enjoy some short travel during our retirement years. We don't expect anything like we have done in the past, but once you fall in love with RVing, you never get it totally out of your system....

Changes Starting

The first step that was taken in our quest to tighten the belt was a review of expenses that we can control and have not looked at in a long time. The main one is the mortgage which we committed to refinance yesterday at an interest rate 3/4% below our original rate. That saves us a couple hundred dollars each month. Further, we have made the decision to change insurance companies and get rid of Progressive. I received a nice quote from Farmers that saves us lots of money on our vehicle insurance and our homeowner insurance. It also has the advantage of being with the same company versus splitting the coverage with Progressive.

There are several other areas we have made changes to in order to reduce the monthly obligations. Another that I will take a long look at is our telephone coverage. We are spending way too much each month with AT&T and we are not all that happy with them anyway. Since we do not plan to travel as much, it will be worth looking into other providers that perhaps don't have the wide coverage that AT&T and Verizon have. One that comes to mind is T Mobile. They are a lot cheaper.

Anyway, the train is rolling along and we are making good headway into making costs more reasonable....

Starting New Direction

It looks like it is time to change direction. We are both getting weary of traveling and working and trying to make so much money that we have lost contact with reality. The reality is, we are getting older and slower and don't need to keep up this rocket-speed pace. At least for now we will tighten our belts and try to get by with as little as possible in terms of toys and money. One of the major decisions we made is to somehow get rid of the fifth wheel and the expenses associated with that. Although it has been such a big part of our lives for the last 12 years, it has outlived its usefulness and the expense can no longer be justified. It was our home for most of those 12 years, and a very good one at that. We now begin the search for an acceptable solution.

We are taking some time now to evaluate our goals and to get our lives organized for the foreseeable future. That involves some changes and some sacrifices, but we feel we need to make those tough choices now in order to have a better retirement - what is that word? It will be nice to eventually downsize our possessions - mostly in the garage - so that we can spread out a little bit and begin to know where to look for things when we need them. It will not be easy, but we are mentally ready for the task....

Amazon Gig Ends

I worked the half day of voluntary OT yesterday at Amazon. I resigned after the shift ended but left the door open a crack in case I decided to return for any reason. They allowed me to stay on as a reserve and have the opportunity to return before the end of the season. It' isn't likely that will happen.

I am in the mode now of preparing a strict budget for us to follow to get control of our expenses. I can't plan for the emergencies - like the truck repair - but can still have some kind of reserve fund for those occasions. The budget will include only employment by Josie as that is something she wants to do - part time, if possible, during holidays. I will not work unless it becomes absolutely necessary. I will provide updates as we go along.

Maybe we can finally have an opportunity to join most of our neighbors in the garage sale game. We have been ignoring the "mess" in the garage since we moved in and need to get rid of lots of old stuff. Every week there are garage sales in our neighborhood and people in this area are drawn to those sales like flies. Every garage sale creates a traffic jam on the street in front of those houses. I know that it takes a lot of preparation, but I also understand that it can be very profitable - as opposed to donating everything to charity. There are also some items in our house that need to go. We wish Patty were here to help go through those things and take what she might want. We'll see.

Today, I will watch another Penn State football game. This time, they will beat Indiana. I also plan to watch PJ Fleck and his Minnesota Gophers play Iowa this afternoon. I see no reason why they shouldn't win their 10th game this season and remain undefeated.

Enjoy your weekend everybody....