One Hundred Degrees PLUS!

It was HOT today! We made the mistake of just relying on the open windows and fans and didn't turn on the AC until after 5 PM. By then I was seriously overheated and feeling miserable. Several glasses of water and a Pepsi later, it finally cooled off. We finished up the ranch books for 2011 this afternoon and I did three loads of laundry (which dried almost before it got hung up).

When the outside temp finally dropped down to 85, I went outside to repot my poor lavender plant. It's traveled fairly well since Granddaughter Claire gave it to me for Mother's Day last year, but it's finally gotten so root-bound that water just ran right around and through it and it was not tolerating the heat very well all dried out all the time...

I had bought a bag of Miracle Grow potting soil and a new pot yesterday at Home Depot. It looks a bit crooked now. but I soaked it pretty good. I'll see if I can add more soil in the morning and straighten it out a bit.

I've been smelling orange blossoms every time I go outside. Finally figured out that the lovely smell is coming from the neighbors just down the road. I understand this is called a Mock Orange --

While we were at Home Depot, Forry saw this blue solar powered light and put it in the cart with my potting soil. After charging all day, this is what I saw tonight --

Then this --

And finally, there was the blue light I thought we had bought --

It continually cycles through several colors, there is a pink and a sorta turquoise blue as well. Pretty.

Running Errands

Today was a day for getting some errands done. We made a trip to the nearby Post Office at Loughman and mailed off some birthday and Easter packages. It's a funny little post office that usually has only one person working. Today it was busy -- the line of people mailing packages was out the front door. And they kept coming! When we finally left, the line was just as long as when we came...

From the post office we went to Home Depot and picked up some potting soil and a new pot for my lavender plant. I had planned to repot it this evening when it got cooler, but we got busy working on the ranch books and forgot all about it until it was pitch black outside.

These sunset pictures are from a couple of evenings ago after we had had a pretty violent thunderstorm during the early afternoon --
 

 

Finally, FLORIDA!

This morning we left Styx River RV Park in Alabama to head for Florida. I picked up my Mother's Day lavender plant (a present from Granddaughter Claire) that sits by the front door of Auntie Violet when we are parked. As I was getting ready to put it on the floor in the front seat of Toad, I noticed movement. At first I thought it was another leaf. Can you spot what I found?

It was a pretty straight shot east on Interstate 10 into Florida. I-10 is a four-lane highway in very good shape. We only ran into one small slow stretch of bridge construction. (It is very unusual not to run into a GREAT deal of construction!) We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and picked up a couple of maps and a whole passel of brochures. We are planning to be in Florida for a couple of months, so we should find lots to explore.

We turned off on State Highway 231 and headed south about fourteen miles to Pine Lake RV Park. This is one of the parks affiliated with our Resort Parks International membership, so we are staying here for a week at $15 per night for a 50 amp site.

Before we left this morning, I sat down and wrote out several checks for our annual insurance fees (the bills came in that batch of mail yesterday...). We'll have to make a run into town and the post office in the morning.