Still Alive

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida

Yes, we’re still alive, and yes, we are still in the Tampa Bay area.

Nothing has been going on, so there has been nothing to blog about.

We’ve been working on the motor home.  Al cleaned the roof and re-waxed it.  The roof is fiberglass and we thought it was going to be maintenance free, but we were wrong.  If you don’t seal it at least once a year then the white chalky stuff runs down along the side of the coach. 

The roof is cleaned and sealed, and then we  used “The Solution” to clean and shine the rest of the coach. It looks pretty good, except for the tires and wheels.  (and inside)

 

Al got his annual physical and found out that his triglycerides and cholesterol have risen since he’s been off the Lipitor for the past 4 months.  He and the doctor were hoping that our vegan diet would do the trick.  The doctor isn’t ready to put him back on Lipitor yet and wants him to take fish oil daily,  and check it again in three months.

The more we thought about our diet, the more we realized, we have been sliding and eating too much fat and oil.  We are vegan 99% of the time, but on occasion we have meat or cheese.  We have been still managed to eat too much fat, mostly from olive oil, vegan margarine and mayonnaise.  We felt we could have as much fat and oil as we wanted since we didn’t eat meat.  We were wrong, I guess.   Of course while we were in the Keys, we cheated a bit too often.  We’re working on that and hopefully the next time he gets his blood tested, he will do better.  The doctor said some people are just genetically predisposed to high cholesterol.  If he can’t get the numbers down, he will have to go back on Lipitor.

We’re still perfectly happy eating a  vegan diet.  We’ve both lost about 20 pounds and we hope now that we’ve on a better track, we’ll start losing again.  In the meantime, we’re happy with our new way of eating, we eat as much as we want and never feel deprived.

We had Mom at the ER last week.   They ran a lot of tests, fond nothing and sent her to her cardiologist the next day, who also found nothing.  I don’t know what to do next.  The older they get, the harder it is to deal with them.

We’re having our 40th anniversary next month and we’re  talking about spending a few nights at Red Coconuts Rv Park which is right on the beach in Fort Myers, Florida.   There are only two sites on the water where we would fit.  If we can’t face the water, we don’t want to go.  Of course it always depends on Mom, so we’re hesitant to make a reservation……especially since they are over $100 a night.

We’ve already gotten our anniversary presents.  Al got a new Nexus 10” tablet and I got a  Canon Rebel T3i digital SLR camera.  It’s a really nice camera, and comes with an 18-55 mm lens and a 55-250 mm lens.  I knew the 250 zoom lens wouldn’t be anywhere near as powerful as the zoom on my other camera which has the “stalker” lens.  I like the new camera, but I really need a more powerful zoom.  (did I mention, I’m having a birthday?)

The new camera takes great pictures, but this is the best I could get with the zoom I have.  You can see I need a stronger zoom lens, can’t you?   

If I had been using my old camera with the stalker zoom, I would have known what color under wear this guy was wearing!

 

We’re sitting outside on our patio, facing the woods and listening to the bullfrogs croak.  (not my favorite sound)

Meet Murphy

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 84, low 63)

We’re sitting outside on our nice patio, enjoying the cool morning air, bird watching and hoping the deer will appear.  Our neighbors spotted two foxes the other evening, but we’ve yet to see them ourselves.  You can be sure I keep my camera handy!

There has been a lot of rain all around this past week, so we’ve kept pretty close to home.  It looks like it’s finally clearing up.  We needed the rain, and things have really greened up around here.

Since we love dogs, but are not dog owners, we have to get our puppy fixes where we can find them.

Our neighbors Pat and Ron, have a wonderful little dog named Murphy.  We’ve become quite attached to him.

Meet Murphy.  I keep telling Pat, that she really needs to watch where she puts her thumb when she’s posing for a picture!  I think Murphy looks embarrassed, don't you?

Pat and Ron recently bought wonderful new bikes.  Of course Murphy wants to ride with them.

Pat was having a little trouble holding Murphy, steering, and braking, but Murphy was happy, so that’s all that matters!

Murphy has a lot of friends around the park, and he is particularly fond of Miss Grace.   We love Grace as well. She’s such a pretty little thing, and very sweet.

 

You might recognize Grace.  She belongs to Catherine and JoBeth, who are just a few sites down from us.

They posted a cute video of Grace and Murphy playing “kissy face.”  The two dogs are such good friends.

 

The number of birds coming to our feeders is increasing.  Unfortunately some crows have been eye-balling the feeders, so we may have a problem. 

This male cardinal comes early in the morning and late at night.  We finally saw Mrs. Cardinal, but I’ve yet to get a picture of her. 

 

The next picture shows our motor home from the front.  You can see how easy it is go get in and out of the site.  The park model is leaving soon, and Pat and Ron will be on the right side.  The 5th wheel belongs to two women that use it 3 days a week when they are working here in the area. 

Although, we are still in an “rv park” and we have neighbors, we love the wooded area behind us.   Unfortunately, we also have an interstate nearby, so we do have that noise. 

It’s okay though.  It gives us an inexpensive place to stay here in the Tampa area and we can be nearby my Mom.

We haven’t gotten hitch-itch yet, as we’re busy doing things around here, but I’m sure it will be coming soon.

This is our view from the front.   It is so easy to get in and out of this site.  That and the wooded back yard  are why we moved over to this site. 

Al went to his doctor for his annual physical on Monday.  We were hoping for the results of the blood work by now, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until Monday.   He went off his cholesterol medicine a few months ago (with doctor permission) to see if he would be able to discontinue it now that we have become vegan.  We’re anxious to see what is cholesterol is without medication for the last 4 months.

We’ve been vegan 9 months now, although while in the Keys, we “treated” ourselves a little too often.  We eat vegan 99% of the time, but if we want something, we have it.  It seems to be working well for us so far.   We’ve both lost nearly 20 pounds without feeling hungry or deprived.  We’re hoping to get more weight off now that we’re back near our wonderful gym.

The end