March 2020 - Campground Fun, Players Golf, Nature, Family, Coronavirus Brings a Different Way of Life!!!

March 2020
Our partners in crime (alias co camphosts) have been wonderful partners.  Their Cockatoo "Lucy" has become the other "bird" in Bryan's life and I have some serious competition!!! Whenever they go past our motorhome, Lucy squawks and makes a racket.  She loves Bryan!!!  From what I can make out this is unusual, she usually doesn't like men, a very wise bird!!!   Bryan has been very patient with her though, and she now allows him to get close to her and even extend his finger 'slowly' and not get it pecked at!!!

Talking to his "other" bird!!!

Waving at each other

I think it's true love, she even entices him by saying "Peek-A-Boo" in her best cockatoo voice!!  I mean how can a girl compete with that!! 😄. 

One morning I saw this thick white web in a tree.  I think it is made by tree caterpillars.  It was only there for one day, so not sure what happened to it.

Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
We went to a practice day at The Players Golf Championships again this year.  You might remember we went on two days last year and had a blast.
This will probably become an annual thing for us as we really do enjoy it.
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.

We were accompanied by a couple who were staying at the campground this year, Frank and Stef.  The weather was perfect.

The first player we saw just after we arrived was Phil Mickelson hugging his dad.

We stopped and looked in the gift shop and Bryan bought himself a t-shirt and then made our way to the 17th hole.  In my opinion the best hole on the course to watch.  The green being on an island, it is fascinating watching to see if the balls manage to get on the green or in the water surrounding the green on all sides.

17th Green

17th Tee

The ball is just on the edge of the green

There was a caddy competition going on at the 17th which made it more interesting as the caddies got a prize for whoever was closest to the hole for the day.

This guy got the bunker, better that than the water though

We sat for a while before walking around some more.

Stef & Frank

We visited the military appreciation tent and had a free lunch.  This is one of the perks of the day.  Free food and sodas or water.  We already got in for a total of $1 and our parking was free because there were 4 of us.  Can't beat that for a wonderful day out.

After lunch we headed toward the practice area where there are always a few golfers out practicing either before, or after their rounds.

Jim Furyk

We walked back down by the 16th hole and spent time sitting and watching the players  come down the fairway and then we moved to watch them play the green.

In front of the 16th green

16th Green

There were cameramen high up above the course and even a camera on a wire going over the lake. Can you see the mock owl in the corner behind the cameraman.  He was there to keep the birds away.

The thing with practice day is that the players can play many balls from different angles to see how the course/greens are playing.  The holes are moved on different days to different parts of the green and so they practice for all eventualities.

16th Green

This camera was really really high up.

We walked back to the 17th hole and watched for a while before heading to the 18th tee.

18th Hole

Clubhouse in the distance

While sitting at the 18th tee, a huge roar went up from the 17th.  We couldn't see but we found out that Tommy Fleetwood (one of our favorites) had got a hole in one. Shame it was only practice!!!
He got a round of applause as he came round to the 18th.  Here he is signing autographs. We had heard that the players may not sign autographs because of the virus and noticed that some did and some didn't.

Tommy Fleetwood

We walked back to the refreshment tent but there wasn't much left so we decided to head home.  We waited for a shuttle cart to take us back to the car park and were on our way.  Once we were back at the base we went to the Golf Course restaurant for dinner.  It was another lovely day out.  Little did we know it would be our last day out for a while.

The next day we were happy to see the couple, who had their camper written off last month during the storm, back in the park with their new camper.  They managed to get one like their old one which was something they didn't think they'd be able to do when they left here.  We were happy for them and happy to see them back.

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.

Friday March 13th, 2020

Friday 13th, quite an appropriate date for panic buying to start in our local area, and much of the country. 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.

Saturday March 14th, 2020

This was the last time I saw Christina and Trystan when we shared a spaghetti dinner with them, and did laundry.  Bryan has seen them through the window when he has picked mail up since then though.  We do message daily, as Ryan is away.

Monday March 23rd, 2020

After a few stressful days, when we didn't know if the campground would close completely and we would have to find somewhere else to go, we were told we could stay.  The campground closed to new arrivals.  Anyone already here could stay and extend if they wanted.

Wednesday March 25th, 2020

Today was our granddaughter LeeAnn's 18th birthday.  We called and sang Happy Birthday to her.  It's such a shame this virus is spoiling her senior year at school, as she has done really well in being able to graduate.  Graduation is still on at this time and so we hope that she gets to celebrate that. 

She was named Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year for her area.  What a fantastic honor and so well deserved.  We're so, so proud of you and your parents.

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.

Thursday March 26th, 2020

The Nature Walk needed cleaning again, so off we went.

The flowers are coming out

Throughout the month we have had multiple birds coming to visit.  I love being able to see them through the window.  Bird food has become one of our essential items, and there hasn't been a shortage!!!  Sssssh, don't tell anyone.

Sorry this picture is not clear but I hadn't seen this one before, it's an Eastern Bluebird!!

The Red Cardinals are awesome.  They are supposed to be a sign from heaven.  We need all the signs we can get.

Song Sparrow??

??

and the squirrel is eating the bird food.  We ended up putting vaseline on the pole and he eventually gave up.

We sent pictures to Trystan as he was missing seeing us. Bryan had been over a couple of times to pick up mail and he pulled a sad face through the window.

Nana blowing a kiss

Tuesday March 31st, 2020

We have 10 empty sites in the campground.  We are usually full most nights, but as we are not accepting new arrivals once someone leaves no one can come in.  Most people seem to have decided to just stay in the park though, as campgrounds throughout the country are either closing completely or closing to new arrivals.  There is safety in familiarity.

I have some Cadbury Flakes that I got for Christmas.  I'm rationing them out, but I had an idea of making a "99" without the cone. My UK folks will understand.😁  Comfort food is much needed. 

Here's a timeline of the Coronavirus here in the USA & Florida, the State we are currently in, and is our home State.

January 20th - The first confirmed case in the USA.

January 31st - President Trump stopped any flights between the USA and China.  He was criticized at the time for being too hasty in his actions, but as far as I can see he acted with great foresight.

February 29th - The first death in the USA was recorded.

March 1st -  The first case in Florida was recorded.

March 6th - Two deaths in Florida were confirmed.

March 15th - Walt Disney World in Orlando was closed.

March 18th - Las Vegas Strip and Casinos were shut down.

Daily briefings are held and televised, sometimes more than once a day.

So, we are all in a state of limbo, we are fortunate that we can stay where we are for as long as we want to.  We shall see when that is.

We are sending our positive thoughts and prayers to all our family and friends wherever you are.

Isolate, follow the rules, stay safe and well.  This has been a sobering experience so far, and we are getting lots of things done around here, although not as quickly as we would like, as we are in a state

of mind that we now have all the time in the world.

This will end at sometime, and we look forward to when we can get a somewhat normal life again.

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!!!!!!