Auntie Violet's New Addition

Way back when we were in Florida (a few months ago), I bought a fish with hooks for hanging keys. I thought it would be fun to have something in the motorhome that reminded us of our winter in Florida and the Florida Keys. Forry did not want to put screws into Auntie Violet's nice cherry wood walls, so it's sort of sat around waiting for inspiration about how to hang it.

Finally he decided that he would mount it on a board that I could attach to a motor home wall with velcro strips (like I have done with everything else I've hung on the walls). While we were in Altoona visiting Bill and Leslie, Forry and Bill took an afternoon and made a Home Depot run. While they were there, one of the things they bought was a nice oak board that they had cut to size.

I put several coats of Liquid Gold on the board, then Forry screwed the fish to it. We've mounted it over the right side of Auntie Violet's doorway. The board is pretty heavy itself without the addition of the keys, so I used two inch-wide strips of heavy-duty velcro on the back.

I am quite pleased with how nice it actually looks and how well it blends with the various shades of the cherry wood. Now if we can just remember to hang up the keys...

Getting Ready to Move

Alas, our time in the Keys is coming to an end! We'd love to stay longer, but it is just too expensive for us to spend any more time here. This IS the high season, so there are few, if any, discounts at the RV parks. Although we have noticed that many of them, including this one, are not at all full.

We started taking care of some of the necessary tasks this afternoon. We had complained earlier about the sewer connections on our site that had no screw threads, so that the cap just sat on top and "burbled" very odoriferously  every time someone on the line drained their tanks. The office sent out a maintenance crew, but they evidently did not have the right connections to put on, so they glued a foot-long PVC pipe on it. Which, of course, is way too high for us to drain our tanks...! Since our grey water tank was getting awfully full, Forry connected his macerator pump and hose and drained it that way. We'll drain the black tank tomorrow at the regular dump site when we pull out tomorrow.

The other task we took care of this afternoon was putting away the lawn chairs in Toad. When I went to fold up the second one, I found this little critter sunbathing --

Just look at the length of those toes! No wonder these little lizards are such good climbers --

There was an interesting sunset this evening. The red of the sky was reflected in the water of the Gulf. So pretty!

Alice's Beach on Islamora Key

We've been wanting to go to the beach since we got to the Keys. We went by Alice's Beach (a city park) Sunday. It was extremely busy, so we waited until today and drove back (it's about five miles from Fiesta Key.) The tide -- what little there is -- was out.

The beach looks very nice, but it actually isn't. It's very muddy sand. If you don't stay on the sand bars, you sink eight to ten inches into the mud. It's not even pleasant wading...

 The water is very shallow, with lots of sand bars that stretch way out...

This is one of several dogs we saw chasing sticks in the water --

 There is a fairly nice boardwalk that stretches along the back of the beach --

When you look out into the Atlantic, you can see the various colors of water, with that by the horizon almost turquoise green --

 We had hoped to see shore birds while we were at the beach, but all we saw were Laughing Gulls --

 

We got back to Auntie Violet in time to get showers and start dinner. Our friends, Leslie and Bill, were driving down to spend a couple of days with us in the Keys. They arrived about 7:30. We will be driving down to Key West with them to spend the day tomorrow.

A Rest Day

After a couple of pretty busy days, it was time today for a down day. One of the things we've discovered as we've gotten older is that we cannot go "full-steam" too many days in a row without getting cranky (or crankier than normal...) or too tired.

I had washed three loads of clothes yesterday before we took our jaunt to Lake Okeechobee, so I didn't even have that to do. I suppose I could have spent some time cleaning -- Auntie Violet's cabinetry could certainly use some Liquid Gold -- but it was too nice a day to spend inside.

So I took my Kindle, my cell phone, a can of Diet Squirt and a fresh pear and went to sit outside in the gorgeous warm Florida sunshine. What a lovely way to spend a couple of hours!

When I came inside to start a pot of chili for supper, Forry (who had been napping in his chair...) suggested we go for a walk first. Looking back at Auntie Violet, you can see what a beautiful day it was --

I'd guess that "M" RV Resort is only about half full. I don't know if it will fill up as people move south following the holidays or if this is normal for them.

I do know that when we were in process of making reservations for further down in the Keys, we ran into Parks that had no openings until next March. We did get neighbors toward evening, but I noticed that the office was nice enough to escort them to a site a couple over from us, still leaving space in between.