August 2020 - Daily Life & A Special Award for a Special Young Lady

August 2020

The campground has been closed to new arrivals since March 23rd when we had 37 of our 42 sites occupied.  Everyone was allowed to stay, but if they left the park they could not return until we reopened. We are now down to 14 sites occupied and we have become quite a little family. Two left toward the end of the month, reducing our numbers to 12.  One went to Mayport as it reopened on August 23rd.  Maybe we are close to reopening as well, lets hope so.  The other couple finally got their orders approved to continue to Key West after they were halted as they were on their way there. I'm happy for them as they have been "in limbo" since this started.  I know how badly that affected Ryan & Christina when they had a few weeks of not knowing what was going to happen before they moved.

We try and walk around the campground twice a day but it has been getting hotter and hotter and it is no longer enjoyable. We continue to do it at least once a day to check everything is ok, including the bathrooms & laundry room. Cleaning and picking up trash as needed.  It gives us an opportunity to talk to anyone who happens to be outside as well.  We like to manage to actually see people as they wander about to make sure they are still ok. There are a few who are on their own and we are aware of that.  So far, everyone is good, if not a little bored and fed up with the situation.

We miss going up to the office and getting our daily updates and will be glad when we can get some normalcy back again.

As the office is closed, only one of us has been leaving the campground for errands. The other stays behind in case we are needed.  This is hard for us as we usually do most things together.  Bryan has been the one doing most of the errands as I don't like to drive anymore, which means food shopping as well. He is getting fed up with that.  I have been a couple of times to the commissary on base but that's about it. 

I still am annoyed at the way we have ended as sole camphosts thanks to the irresponsible behavior of our intended replacements.  However, it is what it is, and we will survive and be the better people. We could quit but we are not quitters and will not leave the campground in the "lurch".

Bryan had an accident while he was trying to replace the spring in our awning and ended up having stitches in his hand.  He was lucky it wasn't broken.

                               

August 10th - We had a day out, woohoo.  There was someone in the office so we asked them to cover for us. We went to scout out a few campgrounds. See the separate blog about that HERE.

We have had a lot of afternoon thunderstorms and heavy rain. Bryan noticed a leak in the front  of our motorhome.  Hence the bucket as we drain the water.  He has been up on the roof and resealing where he can.  He even took the satellite dish off and resealed that.  Eventually I think it is fixed.  

Our satellite is another matter.  It has stopped picking up one of the signals and so we need to try and figure that out.  To be honest, it is just too hot to even think about getting up on the roof anymore at the moment. 

It got pointed out to us that we have saved a lot of money by being camphosts for what will be a year by the time we have finished. We don't get paid, but we get our site for free, so yes we have saved that. Having to be here in the heat and being on our own is really not worth it though.  Although the money helps we really do it to meet and help people.  None of which we are able to do much of, at the moment.  After it was mentioned, I worked out that for a 24 hour day, 7 day week we are getting $1.04/hour or 52 cents an hour each. Hmmm, not exactly a fortune, ha!!ha!!

It has enabled me to get a new wedding band though.  We were going to wait until our 30th next year but decided as mine no longer fit, and was to thin to get enlarged I would get a new one now.  So, I'm one lucky, happy lady.

Our granddaughter LeeAnn was presented with her Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year, and the link below is to an awesome video showing her receiving it, and her accomplishments that led to her receiving it. We have always been and will always be, so proud of her and her parents for the awesome things she achieves and the person she is. Way to go LeeAnn....

VIDEO LeeAnn Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year

Bryan repainted the Nature Trail sign as it had faded.

                                                    

After Mayport reopened, we booked a site there at one of our favorite campgrounds, Pelican Roost for the last two weeks of January 2021.  Keeping everything crossed that we will finally be able to start moving again.

The squirrels are still stealing the bird food. 

and I managed to get this picture of a dragonfly resting.

Coronavirus Update

As at:         Cases USA      Cases Florida       Deaths USA       Deaths Florida                      

August 1st   4,617,728             480,028            154,320                   7,144

August 31st 6,020,186             623,471           183,399                  11,331           

Between July 30th & August 5th many Florida State run test sites were closed due to Hurricane Isaias. 

On August 9th, the USA passed 5 million cases. 1 million new cases in 16 days. Cases had flattened.

On August 31st, the USA surpassed 6 million cases. 1 million new cases in 22 days.

Increase in cases had dropped slightly per day. 

On August 5th, Florida passed 500,000 cases, August 23rd - 600,000 cases. Averaging 4,600 a day. Dropping from approx.10,000 in July.

On August 31st, we had 237 cases on base as opposed to 267 at the end of July. 

Duval County (the county we are in) had 26,460 cases, 254 deaths and 953 hospitalizations. An increase of 5,422 cases, 101 deaths, 321 hospitalizations from July 31st. 😟

Things are still not good but the figures are going down.  Let's hope this trend continues. With Mayport opening up their campgrounds, hopefully we can follow soon.