December 2020 - Campground Life & Christmas

December 1st & 2nd, 2020

See blog for Bryan's Birthday Trip HERE.

December 3rd -31st, 2020

We got home safely and back in our routine. It took us a few days to recover from the long drive back.  We are out of practice. ha!!ha!!

We had quite a few doctor appointments during the month, mostly annual check ups.   Bryan's hand finally seems to be better and he successfully hit a bucket of golf balls.

We walked the nature trail, the first time for a while as it has been too hot.

The Herons are back, starting to build their nest.

Looking through to the golf course.

Back at the swing in the campground, we spotted this heron standing in the river.

Oops, its actually sitting on a branch!!!

It was a quiet month and before we knew it Christmas was around the corner.

We decorated our tiny home. 

We were given a Christmas Tree by the office. It was awesome to have a live tree outside. We decorated it and called it our "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree"

A couple of days before Christmas, I found a shiny American penny on the floor.  Very strange, my maternal grandfather used to save new shiny pennies through the year with the current year on, and give all the grandchildren one on Christmas Day.  Maybe this was his way of saying he was with me. It brought a much needed huge smile to my face.

The Christmas Gnome keeping a watchful eye on Bryan. You know, reporting back to Santa if he was "naughty or nice".  He must have been nice because Santa visited with gifts for him. Hmmmmm!!!!!!

Sue preparing Xmas dinner

We had a very quiet Christmas and New Year.  

We arranged for Lily to have a much needed wash and wax!! At the cost of $10 a foot, it was not cheap but we used our Covid Stimulus money to stimulate the economy!! 👍

We did manage to stay up until midnight New Years Eve and see the New Year in. Hopefully 2021 will be better than 2020 but at least we have survived so far.

Coronavirus Update

As at:      Cases USA  Cases Florida  Deaths USA  Deaths Florida                                

Dec 1st   13,706,356      1,008,166       270,450            18,916

Dec 31st 19,967,278       1,323,315      345,736            21,990

The USA had 77,892 deaths in December, 36,974 deaths in November, 23,394 deaths in October, 23,216 deaths in September, dropping from 30,309 in August. The number of deaths more than doubled from November to December, a dramatic increase. 😞

Florida had 3,156 deaths in December, 1,837 deaths in November dropping from 2,481 deaths in October, 3,157 deaths in September, and 4,555 in August. The number of deaths nearly doubled from November but still fared better than the USA overall for the month. 😢

December ended with nearly 20 million cases in the USA, an average of 207,904 new cases a day. Significantly higher than the November average.

Unfortunately, the average number of new cases per day were significantly higher than the previous high in November(148,216), July(61,718), October(59,966),August(47,663) and September(39,888).  I started watching these figures at the end of March 2020. The lowest was May 2020(22,160).

On 1st December Florida passed 1 million cases, by the end of the month the total was 1,323,315, averaging 10,451 cases a day.  This is significantly higher than the November average of 6,559 a day.

 This figure is significantly higher than November(6,559), October(2,941), September(2,857), August(4,600) but still significantly lower than July(10,000). The lowest was May 2020(691).

On December 31st, we had 685 cases on base, as opposed to 589 at the end of November, 391 at the end of October, 275 at the end of September, 237 at the end of August, and 267 at the end of July. There is some good news, the number of cases this month dropped, the first time it had decreased since September.

Duval County (the county we are in) had 61,321 cases, Deaths 725 and 1,542 hospitalizations. 

Duval County (the county we are in) had 43,978 cases, 604 Deaths and 1,392 hospitalizations. 

An increase of 17,343 cases, 121 Deaths and 150 hospitalizations from October 31st.

An increase of 8,722 cases,  81 Deaths, and  105 hospitalizations from October 31st.

The number of deaths increased from November, ending the downward trend from prior months. The number of hospitalizations and cases both increased over November, following the National trend.

 

Unfortunately, cases have increased dramatically again, maybe due to Holiday travel. We need to start seeing some reductions in these figures. Please, please let it be a Happy New Year. 

Our 2020 Review

 OUR 2020 REVIEW

WE WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2021

Well,  where shall we begin.  Maybe the beginning when we were all blissfully unaware of what would be happening in a couple of months.  This has undoubtedly been one of the hardest years we have endured but we still managed to have some fun times and visit a couple of new places.

We started the year continuing as camphosts in Jacksonville, Florida. Little did we know we would remain in the same campground all year!! On our days off we managed to do some interior renovations.  The main one was installing new flooring in the bathroom and kitchen.  This took longer than anticipated but we eventually got it done. 

Bryan deserved some relaxation after that!!!

Trystan babysat us one night and we had a great time, playing games and eating popcorn.

One night we had a storm go through and unfortunately a tree went through the roof of one of the campers here.  The rig was a write off and the couple were very fortunate to escape unharmed.  It seemed that a tornado had touched down behind their rig and then gone through the campground. 

Another tree came down between two other rigs, it was a narrow miss for both of them.

A very near miss, thankfully.  Picture courtesy of Manny Martinez.

We had plenty of visits from the wildlife here throughout the year.  

This dove looked right at me!!!

How many can we get on here at once!!

Red Cardinal

We have been fortunate that our fellow camphosts have become great friends. Here's Larissa and Lucy.  Lucy is Bryan's other "bird".  See how she's waving at him.

In March, we went to the Players Golf Championship Practice day again.  We took anther couple Frank & Stephanie with us and it was another good day.

In front of the 16th green

The Coronavirus had been ramping up.  By this time, we were aware that we should be taking extra precautions, washing our hands regularly and not touching more surfaces than necessary.  They had water filling stations that were motion driven, where we could fill our water bottles, so no hands needed.  We noticed that everyone seemed very aware and we saw people using wipes and elbows to open doors.

Here's Tommy Fleetwood approaching the 18th tee after he had just scored a hole in one on the 17th.

Tommy Fleetwood

The first round of the Players went ahead but at the end of the day it was announced that the remainder of the tournament would be cancelled.  Other sporting events had started to be cancelled and it wasn't long before there were no live sports being played.  Golf, Nascar, Baseball, Tennis, all cancelled.  We are huge sports fans and suddenly there was nothing!!!  What would we do now at weekends??  Coronavirus precautions were kicking in and life as we know it was about to change.

Next came the panic buying, toilet paper was the first to sell out. Hmmmm, food was more of a priority to us.  We did our normal shop, but did add some cold medicine, soup, jello and Gatorade.  After our bout of sickness last May when we were both very, very sick, we knew what we needed to get us through any similar illness.

Ryan had left for training and there were some concerning times as it came to a stop and he was in limbo, not knowing what would happen. His hotel closed but they transferred him to another one. We started seeing Christina & Trystan through their window.  No more hugs or kisses.  We did invent virtual hugs!!!

We weren't sure what would happen to the campground.  It didn't help that someone was spreading rumors that we were closing and we would all have to leave.  Naturally everyone was concerned and we did our best to reassure everyone.  Ultimately, on March 23rd, the campground closed to new arrivals but anyone already here could stay and extend if they needed to.  This was a huge relief.

March 25th was our granddaughter LeeAnn's 18th birthday.  We called and sang Happy Birthday to her.  It's such a shame this virus spoilt her senior year at school, as she has done really well in being able to graduate.  

She was named Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year for her area.  She has participated in many sports over the years, and won many medals.  We have been fortunate to be at some of these occasions. They bring a lump to your throat. A fantastic honor and so well deserved.  We're so, so proud of you and your parents.

Later in the year she received her award.  The link below is to an awesome video showing her receiving it, and her accomplishments that led to her receiving it. Way to go LeeAnn....

VIDEO LeeAnn Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year

                            

The park office closed and everybody was advised to see us or our co-hosts with any questions or problems.

I put a sign on our door to advise people to step back after they knocked on the motorhome.

On April 1st, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the State of Florida placed a stay at home mandate, and it was now official that you can only go out for essential reasons, food shopping, doctor, pharmacy, and recommended that only one go at a time.  It was April Fools Day but this is no joke!!

You can walk as long as you are 6ft. away from people.  We have been doing this since March 14th anyway.

We still enjoyed cleaning the nature walk.

and watching the Blue Herons as they swopped out caring for their babies.

In April, we had the Pink Moon, the largest supermoon in 2020.

We saw the shadow of this Pileated Woodpecker while we were inside one day, and Bryan went out to see what it was. It kept pecking on the window.  It's moments like these and seeing the Blue Herons and their babies that have kept us going this year.

Pileated Woodpecker

The squirrels are still stealing the bird food!!!

 

At the end of April, we looked after Peace for Christina, while she was supervising her household being packed, cleaned and then moving out. 

They stayed in the hotel on base for a couple of days before leaving. 

Bryan collected Ryan from the airport. We were so happy to see him back. 

The next day they left for Norfolk, as we waved goodbye.  I kept the social distancing 6 feet away from them, and blew kisses and threw hugs.  It was very, very hard not to hug them.

My doctor started "virtual" visits and we video called.  Then there was a 3 hour wait in line to get our prescriptions.

Waiting to hand in prescriptions

We were due to finish our camphost position on May 2nd and had our route planned out, visiting Mom in Louisiana, going to LeeAnn's graduation in Texas before heading North and Coronavirus changed everything as campgrounds closed.

The campground asked us to continue as camphosts and train the new couple, who were already in the campground.

It was #1 (oldest, he doesn't like that!!) son's 40th birthday.  With all my spare time I decided I would write a "This is your life" blog just for him.  This took quite a while and still needs some parts filled in by him, but I think it was a success. Ian, Kris, Bailey & Kai have been enduring lockdowns with the rest of us, with some home schooling thrown in for good measure. Wales has been stricter than we have here in Florida.

The Blue Angels went around the USA performing overhead displays in different towns to boost morale during the pandemic. They flew over Jacksonville and part of the route was over the base. We stood in the RV park and watched them go over.

On May 11th, we went out for the day. It was the first time we had a day out since March 11th and it felt good. We went to Anastasia State Park. Thankfully there weren't many people around.  We wanted to drive around the campground there but it was closed and so the entrance was blocked. We decided to go on the walkway to the beach.

                      

On the way back we stopped at St. Augustine Lighthouse and took pictures from the car.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

and saw this statue of convicts working outside the Old Jail.

We went for another walk on the campground nature walk.

Great Blue Heron still in the nest

This time we were in for a treat.  We saw an alligator in the stream below the boardwalk.  There was a fence between us but considering the video Christina took last year of an alligator here on base climbing the fence, I'm not sure why we felt as safe as we did. He/She didn't move. I guess we were lucky it wasn't hungry.

Right next to it, sunning itself on a log, was a turtle!!!

We knew there were alligators and turtles around here but this was the first time we

had seen them.  Bryan has seen them on the golf course, which isn't far away.

Talking about golf, the next day Bryan decided to play a round and look what he saw!!!

I guess the two buddies had decided to go for a game of golf!!!

We got a virtual hug from Trystan which made our day.

More nature from the Nature Walk.  The Nature Walk became our escape
during this year, although as it got hotter our walks were fewer.

Large Grasshoppers

The bird nest seems to have new occupants. I think this is a White Egret.

On June 6th, our granddaughter LeeAnn graduated from High School.  We were so sad that we were not there, due to this virus, but so, so proud of her. Congratulations LeeAnn, you are one special lady.  

I always think the year they graduate school is their year.  John, Brenda, Aimee and her "sisters" definitely did a good job with the circumstances they were given this year. 

The week before they had a car parade by the school. 

Here are some of her Graduation and Senior pictures.

LeeAnn, Aimee & their "sisters"

I had a lot of birthday wishes, via facebook, which was nice.  I spent most of the day watching tennis.  Andy Murray won, yay!!  Trystan & I talked on a video call and he sang Happy Birthday to me and we shared virtual hugs. We had Red Lobster for dinner, I had Crab Legs, yummy.  Bryan went and got it, we still are not comfortable with eating in a restaurant.  About 6pm we had a huge thunderstorm, lightening and torrential rain.

There was a wind gust which destroyed some peoples' awnings and there was a few branches down.  We were on duty so we went round and made sure everyone was ok, which they were.  Just property damage, which is bad enough!!  There's always something. I'm thankful everyone was ok and I did have a lovely day.  Flowers and a card from my lovely hubby and lots of happy birthday wishes.

We had a day out earlier in June when we told the other camphosts we were "escaping" for the day and headed out to Fort Clinch State Park.

There was a nice beach.

Beach Overlook

We love exploring these old forts and this one didn't disappoint. 

The day before Independence Day we found out that we would be sole camphosts until the campground reopened as the other couple got fired!!!! That brings a whole new meaning to the word "Independence"

We were fortunate to celebrate July 4th with our friends Larissa, Manny, Christian and a fellow camper David and his family.  Manny barbecued and it was delicious. I made a potato salad & a trifle.

Photo courtesy of Larissa

Watching fireworks with my bestest friends here, Larissa & Christian

It was so hot that we couldn't even go out walking. We  managed to walk the campground once a day but that was about it. We got our old Wii out and started doing some of the routines on it.  It had great pleasure in telling us that we hadn't been on it in 8 years!!!!  Nope because usually we are getting our exercise exploring new areas.  

In July, we would have been travelling through Texas, Oklahoma & Arkansas.  August, Tennessee and Kentucky, where we were going to stay at a campground near Mammoth Caves for a month before heading back south.

We survived the first month as sole camphosts.  It felt a little like being trapped but really we are trapped by the virus.  We were both eating more comfort foods and my sugar levels were too high.  I have managed to lower them considerably now, thank goodness.  We both gained weight which we have to work on losing.

Unfortunately, Larissa, Manny & Christian moved to Key West.  We miss them so much.

By August, Coronavirus and it's limitations were starting to get to us.

The campground had 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 were now down to 14 sites occupied and we became quite a little family. 

We tried to walk around the campground twice a day but it was getting hotter and hotter and was no longer enjoyable. We continued to do it at least once a day to check everything was ok, including the bathrooms & laundry room. Cleaning and picking up trash as needed.  It gave us an opportunity to talk to anyone who happened to be outside as well.  We liked to manage to actually see people as they wandered about, to make sure they were still ok. There were a few who were on their own and we were aware of that.  

As the office was closed, only one of us left the campground for errands. The other stayed behind in case we were needed.  This was hard for us as we usually do most things together.  

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.

                               

One day when someone was in the office, we asked them to cover for us and we went to scout out a few campgrounds. We had a lovely day out, it was good to escape.

Madison Golf & RV Resort - We really liked this new campground and have made reservations for the month of February 2021.  You get free golf and a golf cart rental for a monthly stay and it is cheaper than where we are now!!!

We also looked around Suwannee River State Park.

and Stephen Foster State Park

We had a lot of afternoon thunderstorms and heavy rain. Bryan noticed a leak in the front  of our motorhome.  Hence the bucket as we drained the water.  He went up on the roof and resealed where he could.  He even took the satellite dish off and resealed that. Thankfully it got fixed.

Our satellite is another matter.  It has stopped picking up one of the signals, so we are watching TV over the internet.  Thankfully we have a Smart TV!!!  We fixed what parts we could and eventually(today, Dec.29th) we managed to get the tree trimmed next to us which has enabled us to pick up some channels again.

One of our air conditioners died as well.  We had to buy a new one which ended up taking nearly two months as Dometic weren't manufacturing.  Eventually one was found buried in a warehouse somewhere.  Luckily our friends, Don & Karen, had a portable air conditioner which they lent to us, which really helped. We were very grateful.

Bryan bought me a new wedding band as my original one had worn thin and was too small. I love my new ring.

Bryan repainted the Nature Trail sign as it had faded.

                                                    

The Campground office and Autoskills reopened on the 3rd September and we were hopeful that the campground would follow very quickly.  

We decided to go and fill our propane tank while we had a chance.  This involves taking the motorhome to the propane station, which in turn meant packing everything that moved away.  We hadn't moved the "house" since the beginning of the year, so Bryan took it for a ride around the base to give everything a workout.  He filled the propane tank and then returned.  

Then we cleaned off our site, which had accumulated some mud from the rainwater washing dirt down, and under our rig. As Bryan was cleaning that off he disturbed some frogs that had made their home in the mud.  They were so cute and I felt sorry for them but I'm sure they'll make themselves a new home.

It seemed like a lifetime before the campground opened on September 11th. It wasn't soon enough for us.  We spent a couple of days before opening, cleaning sites and buildings. The gazebo had a thorough spring, or was it fall, cleaning.  We checked power pedestals for cobwebs and insects, and got rid of both.  We had a few lizards scoot out of their hiding places, as we checked breakers.  One frog was so still I thought he was dead, so I got a stick and poked him gently.  He moved very begrudgingly from the place he had obviously decided was home.  A wasp nest was treated a little more carefully, as I asked Bryan to deal with it.  Wasp spray to the rescue. Bryan used the blower to clean off the sites.  We were ready.  Opening started slowly with only 1 or 2 coming in the first couple of days.  It was taking a while for word to get out that we were open.

We didn't mind as we had been informed that our replacement camphosts would not be here until the 28th October and we were aware life was about to get busy with campers arriving and departing on a daily basis and no-one to share the responsibilities that come with that. No days off for us, we were going to keep busy.

The weather was still in the 90's which didn't help.

It got busier and we managed to survive from day to day.  It was good to see new faces and watch the campground come to life again but it was exhausting to not get a break.  We wanted to get back to our 5 days on, 5 days off with another couple. It was not to be, at least not this month.

We celebrated our anniversary by getting Red Lobster take out and managed to eat it without any incidents in the park, thank goodness.

By the end of the month we were counting the days down until the 28th October.  It couldn't come soon enough.  Don't get me wrong we love being camphosts and helping people, but it had just been too long, and too much with not having a break. 

The birds still came to visit.  I love watching them.                             

October finally arrived for Bryans hand operation.  It got cancelled in May and this was the earliest they could reschedule due to Covid.  It was at Lake City, Florida, which is just over an hours drive away. We decided to get a hotel room for two nights, to save us having to get up really early the day of the operation, and driving back after the operation. It also meant we got at least one day without having to worry about the campground. Having an operation is a pretty drastic step to take to avoid work though!!!  I wouldn't recommend it.

Sue in the waiting room

Unfortunately Bryan's hand didn't heal as well as we had hoped and it was worse than before the operation for a number of weeks. Thankfully it seems to be getting better in the last couple of weeks so we hope that this continues as he hasn't even been able to hold a golf club and we have those reservations with free golf in February, so fingers crossed!!!

On the way home we stopped at Olustee Battlefield.

Our good friends, Johnny & Kathy, visited as they passed through the area, on their way to their new site further south in Florida. 

We hadn't really planned on seeing them the first day they arrived, but we decided we wanted to go and say hello.  So we went to their campground and spent a couple of hours catching up with them

The next day they came over to our campground as we were "on duty".  I made us Lasagna and we all had dinner together.

Then we visited Kingsley Plantation, had lunch and drove through Mayport to look at the ships there and the campground.

Bryan by a "tabby" built slave quarters-Kingsley Plantation

October 18th was our first official day off, since July 3rd.  It felt so good to not have to worry about the campground.  We have had a few days out, but always had to come back to watch the campground. 

October 26th we finally had a full campground, apart from two non sewer sites. It was good to see the campground full again.

October 29th - We spent time with both the camphosts, going over things again with them, and then officially handed our keys over.  Woohoo we are done, at least until next year.  We anticipate staying in this campground until mid January though, but purely as paying guests.

Bryan started catching up on things on the RV that it has been too hot for him to do.  Washing the roof was a priority.

We decided to take a road trip to Norfolk, Virginia and visit Ryan, Christina & Trystan for Thanksgiving and Bryan's 60th Birthday.  We drove up in the car, stopping overnight halfway in a hotel as it's an 11 hour drive.

We arrived and Trystan was very happy to see us.  Running and giving me a huge hug. The feeling was mutual.  

We unpacked and then they took us for a drive around base.  They have two lighthouses on base!!

The next day we went for a walk on the beach, which is a four minute walk from their house.  You can hear the waves from their doorstep. How amazing is that.

Ryan met us on the beach after work

We spent a lot of time playing in Trystan's bedroom

Ryan was restricted to the house apart from food shopping, as the military tightened down again due to the virus. So we stayed in and played games and visited.

Bryan & I went out one day to look at campgrounds in the area and get some close up pictures of the lighthouses. 

Christina and Ryan made a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner as usual.

After dinner we decorated the tree.

The day after Thanksgiving was cold but Bryan & I decided to go for a walk on the beach.  The others chickened out!!!

The short walk to the beach

The beach is never very busy.  Only military and their guests are allowed here as it's  on base.

We decided to start Bryans birthday celebrations a day early on the 28th as Ryan had to leave early on the 29th, for a short trip for work. As it was his 60th, I bought some balloons and banners and the night before Christina blew the balloons up and we constructed the banners.

We managed to get them up downstairs before Bryan got up and he loved them.

We had a Birthday dinner takeout from Lonestar Steakhouse that we all enjoyed.

The next day Ryan left for his work trip and we left shortly after. We decided to stop for a couple of days at Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina.  This is part of the Outer Banks and where the Wright Brothers made the first powered flight.  It has been on our wish list for a while and seemed fitting to make a stop to celebrate Bryan's 60th.

Walking up to the monument

A recreation of the first flight, with the monument in the background

We had managed to keep a couple of Bryan's balloons as a souvenir of his birthday, although the number 6 had other plans!!! When we got out of the car at the monument to look closer at the recreation of the scene from the first flight, the number 6 "escaped"!!  It proceeded to fly across a field toward the monument. We both looked at each other as this number 6 had already been a troublesome balloon.  I looked at Bryan and asked him, "Do you want me to chase it over the field". He didn't answer but I could tell from his look that he really did. Ha!!Ha!! I started to follow it. There was a row of bushes on the far side of the field with the hill to the monument behind it, so I knew it probably wouldn't get any further than that. I was right. We caught up with it as it stopped on a bush at the bottom of the hill.  How it didn't burst I don't know as the bush was full of thorns, but this balloon was a survivor for sure. I had to laugh as here was this balloon trying to take off at the very spot the Wright Brothers had first succeeded all those years ago.           Back to the car we and the balloon went.

  

Bryan is 60!!

The visitor centre has stones marking where the first 4 flights took off and landed.

The first three were relatively close to each other, each one gaining length from the previous one.

The fourth one was slightly further and I walked to it.

A very interesting visit but we had a lighthouse in our plans for the day as well.

It was a very windy day but they were still allowing people to climb the tower.   This would be our first and last lighthouse climb of the year but at least we got one in.

Hanging on for dear life. Bryan didn't make it all the way around but he did take my picture.

There was a small historical village built by the lighthouse which we drove through and we looked for the wild horses that are on the beach but we couldn't get close enough on the beach in our car.

Back at the hotel, Bryan took this awesome picture of the ocean from our balcony.  

The hotel was awesome and we had balconies off the bedroom that looked at the monument and off the living area that looked over the ocean.

View from the bedroom balcony, sunset and memorial on the hill at right

View of moon over the ocean from living area balcony

We left for home stopping at Darlington Speedway to get some pictures. Unfortunately the museum was closed.

We got home safely and back in our routine. We walked the nature trail, the first time for a while as it has been too hot.  The Herons are back, starting to build their nest.

There's the Blue Heron perched on a branch in the river.

I found a shiny American penny on the floor a couple of days before Christmas.  Very strange, my maternal grandfather used to save new shiny pennies through the year with the year on, and give all the grandchildren one on Christmas Day.  Maybe this was his way of saying he was with me. It brought a much needed huge smile to my face.

We decorated for Christmas.

Our Charlie Brown live tree.

Bryan & his Xmas gnome

Making Xmas morning breakfast

Well, that's it for this year.  Sorry, it's a bit like War & Peace (it is 2020 after all) but I figure you don't have anything better to do while you're locked in your homes.  

We are thankful that we managed to experience some great times even though we didn't travel in Lily. 

We wish you all a Happy New Year and hope to resume our travels mid January. We will see. Love & Best Wishes Bryan & Sue xx