Jan 26th, Saturday – Getting Caught Up

OK, I just need to say this.  This weather sucks.  Yes, I know that it is not as bad as those in the north are suffering through.  There are have been blizzards, sub zero temperatures and snow on top of snow.  Well, it’s not all peaches and cream here in Florida.  We are used to temperatures in the 70’s during the day and maybe mid 60’s at night.  Not now.  We’re lucky to get to the mid 50’s during the day and so much lower at night.  What in the world is going on?

Moving on.  We now have been here at Dade Battlefield for one week.  The site is great.  The people are super.  The work is not all that difficult.  We work four days a week, three hours each day, a total of twenty-four hours a week for both of us.  Like everyone else we are assigned to clean the four bathrooms once or twice a week.  The grounds have to be policed.  There are table and chairs to be set up or taken down.  Signs throughout the park have to be cleaned.  Sometimes the front of the various buildings need to be power washed.   Often times we are left trying to find things to do.  After all, there are ten of us here so there are many hands to divide projects up between.  Add to that the fact that all the others have been here in years past so know without thinking what needs to be done and they just go and do it.  The biggest adjustment for both of us is simply the fact that our work day is from 8 to 11 am.  We’re not used to getting up and going to work in the morning.  We just keep grinning and telling ourselves only two more months and we are saving ourselves some bucks by doing this.

What else have we been doing?  Taking lots of naps and slowly adjusting to our new schedule.  It’s really neat being able to come home and just veg out if we feel like it.  Which we do quite frequently lately.  Ah, being retired is indeed all that it is made out to be.

We also went to a chili cook off at church today.  Had a good crowd for the event.  They also had some really good chili.  We really enjoyed ourselves and came home stuffed and satisfied.

Repairs have been made to Graybeard.  Unfortunately, our hot water heater decided to give up the ghost.  What actually happened is rather weird.  It started out with a really loud screeching sound every time we turned the hot water on.  It was decided that the issue was probably lime and calcium build up in the tank.  No problem.  Remove the drain plug and clean it out.  That’s when everything went south.  Somewhere along the way someone had forced an anode rod into the tank – it’s not supposed to have one.  When we tried to remove it, it broke off in the tank.  Result?  The tank could not be drained and cleaned.  I could have left it like that since it was not leaking.  Yet reason told me things would only get worse if I did.  The only option was to replace the entire tank.  Of course, since it was not a mechanical defect that caused the issue the warranty company would not cover it.  Nice.

On the plus side our heat pump continues to work with no further issues.  We’re giving thanks for that for sure.  Without it the inside of Graybeard would be a bit frosty to say the least.

That’s been our week on The Road of Retirement.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  We’ve had our good moments and we’ve hit a bump or two in the road along the way.  Overall things are still great.  No complaints from us we’re still thrilled with the lifestyle we’ve chosen.  We both definitely have hitch itch and just can’t wait until our wheels start rolling again.   That day is coming and soon enough it will be here.  Till then we’ll continue to make do.

Thanks again for checking in with us.  We hope things are good for you as well.  Time to go now but before I do a thought for all of us to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road