ON GOLDEN POND

Oops, it's not Golden Pond, it's Hunter's Pond. It's just that some days it seems like Golden Pond. I'm not getting lost in the yard or bumping into trees. If I start doing that we'll have to move somewhere without woods and a pond! Actually we still love this place. We are getting tired of the dirty and nasty Canadian Geese, but they usually only pay us a visit once a day. We do have a friendly deer that stops by once a week. She's beautiful. She seems to be a loaner. Most deer I know run in packs. I think our deer is somewhat antisocial. We also have a cardinal couple (Carl & Carla). Recently another male cardinal showed up. Carl wasn't happy. He chased the new guy. Recently I saw Carla talking with the new guy. A think a divorce is imminent! I failed to mention 'tommy the turtle'. Tommy is about 10 inches long and has a beautiful black and gold shell. Tommy walks across our patio about once a week. I think it takes him a week to make the circuit of the apartment buildings. Well, enough about our nature preserve lest you think I'm losing my marbles. Or maybe you've thought that all along. Anyhow...

So let's talk about people...we met our snowbird friends for a 'summer reunion'. We met at a campground in Champaign, Illinois. Now normally one would assume that if you are going to an RV Park, one would have some sort of RV or at least a tent. However, the day we were to pull our trailer to Champaign, the brakes went out on the truck. This was on a Saturday afternoon. The only place open was Sears. They found a broken brake line on the left front. The only problem was they couldn't get the part until Monday. We decided to drive Mary Ellen's car and stay at a hotel in Champaign near the campground. On interstate 80 around Chicago we had a blowout. By the time we waited for emergency services to arrive, had lunch with our Son, Tim, bought 2 new tires and got underway, we had lost 4 hours. I should mention Tim lives just a few miles from where we had the blowout. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We were the last to arrive at the campground, but made up for it quickly. The gathering was fun with the exception of Dave's back. He has had back problems for some time now, and the doctors can't seem to find a cure. On the last day in Champaign Dave developed severe pain that radiated from back to front. He wouldn't go to the E.R. of course, and eventually the pain diminished enough that Dave felt he was ready to drive home. Just prior to the reversal I told Dave we were going to take him outside and shoot him! I was very glad we didn't have to follow through. Dave has a difficult decision coming up. Whether to have surgery or not. We're all hoping he's in much better shape when we get to Florida this January.

I can't believe it's August already. I have to admit I'm actually looking forward to some cold weather. The ninety degree temps are really getting old. We have plans for another trip to Ohio, perhaps PA as well, and will probably take our camper to an RV Park for the month of September. The end of October we're planning to take the camper to Florida and store it down there. When January comes around, and it's time to prep for Florida, it will be such a relief not having to dig out of the snow and ice. We'll only have to drive the truck to our Florida storage facility and we're home free.

Lastly, I just have to mention the morons in Washington. I won't even bother giving you any details. I'm sure you're all as sick of this crap as I am. If you're not, nothing I can say will ever change your mind. My suggestion to all of you who are fed up with this Washington crowd is to vote for ANYONE who ISN'T an incumbent. That's right, throw them all out. And most of all throw out the clown that occupies the White House.

JIM