Happy New Year, at least for a short while - Campground Tales, Flooring, Birds, Wildlife, Family, & a Tornado!!

January 1st, 2020 - February 29th, 2020

Wow!!, Just Wow!!  Where should I start?  Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that we would be enduring a total shutdown of virtually everything.  On April 1st, the Governor of Florida would finally announce a stay at home mandate for 30 days.  More about this in the next blog.

The year started off with us continuing our camphosting jobs and the days became routine, working 5 days on, 5 days off.
Most of our days off comprised of finishing the flooring project we started before Christmas.  At least Bryan's days off!!!  It was a nightmare.  He had to redo most of it again as the floor settled and caused the planks to move.  After removing the planks, he had to level the floor and then relay the planks. It seemed to take forever as we worked out the problems and redid it. He only did it on his days off as he couldn't risk getting interrupted during it.  Eventually it was completed. It went into the toilet and the kitchen.   Here's a picture of a small part of it. 

This woodpecker came to visit.

Red Billed Woodpecker

I got a bird feeder and we have had a lot more birds visit.  I took these pictures from inside the motorhome so they may not be that clear.

American Goldfinch?

Song Sparrow?

How many can we get on here at once!!!

A dove came and sat for a while.

He(She) looked right at me!!!

We have quite a few squirrels here.

and also raccoons, one of which is HUGE!!!!  We had a problem with people feeding the feral cats and unfortunately this encouraged the raccoon to hang around as well.  Signs have now been put up to say it's prohibited to feed the wildlife including feral cats.
Bryan did get a fright one night.  He was about to throw the trash in the dumpster when he heard a noise.  As he went to open the lid, it opened for him and the giant raccoon jumped out of the dumpster. It is so big it can climb up into the large dumpster and open the lid to get in and out!!!!

At the bottom of the park there's a gazebo and a nice swing.  We like to sit and relax there after our walks and when we've been clearing the boardwalk.

It's such an awesome view and so relaxing, although we always watch for alligators which have been known to be here.

We had the distinct privilege of having Trystan babysit us.  He looked after us while Mommy and Daddy had a date night.  We had so much fun.

Sssh, we were allowed to play ball in the house!!

Papa made popcorn

February, 2020
On the morning of February 6th, we got warnings that there could be high winds coming through our area and heavy rain.  Bryan & I went to each camper and told them of the upcoming rain and storms.  We secured the campground.  The swings had to be taken down and the chairs put away.  Every one was responsible for securing their own items around their campsite and they all did the best they could.

Later in the day, we had a tornado watch advisory and myself and a fellow camper went round to everyone and advised them of where the shelter was if they heard the alarm.  There were a few people that you could tell thought we were wasting their time and we could well have been, but it was just a courtesy advice.

We had strong wind gusts, some registered at 60mph.  Surprisingly our little house hardly shook and we felt as though we have been in worse.  We believe we were sheltered by the camper next to us from a lot of it.
At about 10.30pm we had a call from Larissa, the other camphost, she was in the laundry room sheltering and doing laundry, and a camper had gone there to get help.  As we were the camphosts on duty Bryan went up there and told me to stay inside.  It was still windy and raining heavily.
One of our campers had had a tree fall through his roof!!!  It is truly a miracle that no-one was hurt.  It had fallen through the roof and between him and his wife who were sitting on opposite sides of the camper.  It went back out the side and pushed a hot water heater out as well.

Bryan went to look to see what he could do.  He called the people that needed to be called to advise them what had happened.  Fortunately no emergency services were needed as the couple and their dogs were ok, although obviously shaken.  He was advised that no-one could come out until the storm had died down as it was still raining hard and the winds were high.  There was other damage and trees down around the base.  We offered to put the couple up with us for the night but they said they had family they could go to.  Ultimately they found a hotel for the night.

Manny(Larissa's Husband) helped Bryan as they went around to see what other damage had been done.  Another tree had fallen but luckily it fell between two campers and missed their rigs by just a couple of feet. Phew!!!!  Bryan knocked on their doors to check they were ok and they hadn't even realized the tree had come down.  The sound from the wind and rain must have blocked the sound from the tree falling.

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

These pictures were taken a couple of days later of the camper that had the tree through the roof.  The site had been cleared up a lot but you can see the tree sticking out of the roof at the back.

Bryan came home and he was still getting calls from the dispatcher he had called to advise of the incident.  She was checking that everyone was ok and getting more details.  She said no one would probably be out until the morning, as there were no injuries and it was safer to wait until the storm had cleared.  About midnight Bryan went to take the trash out and check everything looked ok.  The winds had subsided but it was still raining.  As he got back to the motorhome a car pulled up, it was the XO (Executive Officer) of the base.  He got out to speak with Bryan and wanted to make sure everyone was ok and get a first hand account of what had happened.  He stood in the rain talking with no coat, head cover or anything, and was genuinely concerned.  We were very impressed that he cared enough to come and check even though he knew there were no injuries. 

The next morning as we went to drive round the campground on our way to the office about 9am, we came across several cars and a mass of people around the storm site.  They were surveying the damage and beginning to clear debris.  The tree that had come down between the two campers had blocked a road and they started to clear it.  There were representatives from all departments and even the CO (Commanding Officer) was there. Wow, we were amazed they had jumped on this so quickly.  They talked with us and it was good to know so many people were there to help.  It appeared that a twister had touched down right behind the camper and caused the tree to come down on his roof, it then went across the small road and actually twisted the trunk of a pine tree, causing it to fall before going through trees on the other side and fading out.   We asked if they could put tape around the damaged camper to stop people from going near it until the insurance adjusters could come out.

It was amazing the unity and concern of the people in the campground.  Everyone came together to see how they could help.

The couple came back to get some of their things, and decide what they needed to get to put things in, that could be salvaged.  I gave her such a hug as I felt so bad for them.  They were holding up very well but were obviously still in shock.

We discovered that the winds had lifted another camper up and set it down again just a few inches, at a slight angle.  It didn't cause any damage thankfully but it showed the force of the storm.  Another had their awning broken even though it had been put in.  Another, who had been adamant he didn't need to take his flag pole down from his roof, had it broken. He had been particularly rude and so karma had paid him back.

A week or so later, the site next to the damaged camper became vacant and we were able to go in and clear up a bit.  It took a couple of hours to clear debris and cut up the fallen trees behind the site.

It took a while for the insurance adjusters to come out and then for the damaged trailer to be removed but eventually it was done and the site was cleaned for new arrivals.

As I said everyone in the campground pulled together and showed their concern.  It was nice to see, as  it is surprising how petty some people can be.  Being a camphost is a pleasure for most of the time but it seems there always has to be odd ones that can't help but complain about just about anything, and sometimes complain about each other. We have had to calm people down who are getting into a confrontation.  I have to say Bryan has exceptional customer service skills, but is also firm when he has to be.  There are not many rules here but one of them is that the laundry room doors should remain closed.  It is a never ending battle, and we were told to put signs up.  Someone was petty enough to correct one of them by changing ensure to insure.  The problem being that there was nothing wrong with the original.  I was going to redo it or change it back, but decided to ignore it and leave it.

Wow, what a start to the New Year but worse is yet to come.........Coronovirus!!!!!!

Summer of 18-#3-Leaving Blue Angel and arriving at Lakeside RV Park

April 8th, 2018

We spent our last day at Blue Angel Campground in Pensacola watching Nascar & Golf but also went for a walk around the campground.  They have a lot of amenities here, including a great beach!!!

I am still getting used to my camera, so a lot of practice shots!!!

They were having sailing lessons.

Got this picture through the reeds

Bryan caught me trying to adjust my camera

Squirrel on the beach

Bryan watching the sailing lessons and taking pictures

Flowers on the beach

Picnic area overlooking the beach

Perdido Bay from campground beach

Peek A Boo

More beach & bay

Bird steps in the sand

Bryan found a seat

The water is very clear

Practicing with my zoom lens.  

The birds in the picture above were perched on a log at the right of the row of logs here.  My zoom worked quite  well.

Brrr, the water's cold.  Shall I???

Another picnic area

Unusual trunk

It was quite cold and rained on and off but we were glad we managed to get out and take some pictures.

April 9th, 2018

Today we were leaving and going to Lakeside RV Park in Livingston, Louisiana which is near to Bryan's moms so we can visit with her and Bryan will help her with some odd jobs around the house. They know us at this campground as we always stay here whenever we visit mom.

We took a picture of Lily(motorhome) & Tilly(car) before we left.

 and me, waiting to check all the lights were working before we left.

 We stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs on the journey.  This was lunch at the rest stop at Pascagoula.

April 10th - 21st, 2018

The weather was beautiful the first couple of days here and we sat on moms porch watching Bryan clean up the yard, burn leaves and cut the grass down.  I love the yard here, the birds sing and the squirrels climb the trees and I usually see butterflies.  Unfortunately the squirrels seemed to be hiding, I only saw a couple and no butterflies so far.

Bryan burning the leaves in the ditch

Keeping an eye on the leaves burning 

Trimming the grass

They have repaired the wall in the living room, replacing the sheetrock and a couple of beams that were damaged due to a leak.  Mom has been leveling it out and then it will be painted and the wainscot will be replaced.  The ceiling will also get another coat of paint.

We woke up one morning to a tornado warning.  We did know there was a possibility of this when we went to bed and we had already brought the bikes in the house and cleared everything away outside.  We quickly put some clothes on and prepared to bring the slides in on the motorhome if we had to.  The office is directly across from us and we would go there if the winds picked up or we felt we needed to.  We watched the weather approaching on the TV where they were reporting where there was a chance of tornadoes forming.  It went right over us and fortunately no tornadoes formed.  It got very dark, still and torrential rain, and then windy but the wind wasn't as bad as when we were here once before and we had gone to the office on that occasion for shelter.  The rain continued but the warning and then the watch were lifted.  It wasn't a nice way to be woken up though it could have been worse.

We had a little stream appear behind us but it quickly drained away after the rain stopped later in the day.

View from our back window

I heard that a friend of the family, who we had visited when we were over last year, had been admitted to the hospital and sadly she passed away.  She was such a fun, bubbly person that it's hard to believe she is no longer here with us, but no doubt her spirit will always be with us.  My thoughts are with her family.  Rest in Peace, no longer suffering.