9 Miles from Anywhere and, boy, is it DARK out here!
Well, we did arrive Wednesday afternoon, just as planned, and it was HOT. Very hot. And, boy, were we ready for it. Denise an Carl reported that it was cold, miserably cold in Branson, so we were very glad our sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue.
Lake Manatee State Park is all it's cracked up to be — a wild and wonderful place, without the luxury amenities of some other private parks. But, that's fine. Day two found us working already, hosting away. Our new "jobs" consist of dong what comes naturally to some....talking. Dick has found his niche! Aside from that, we do have public restrooms to scrub, and I'm pretty sure they haven't been done to our satisfaction in quite some time. The first scrub we gave 'em took us about 6 hours. And they seem to be getting better every day now. And, thankfully, we don't spend quite so much time in them, either.
Wildlife sightings are quite frequent — so far we've seen lots of gopher tortoises, a bald eagle (2x, same one), several sandhill cranes - they are spectacular - the usual white ibis & egrets, great blue herons galore, a possum, a playful racoon, several (live) armadillos, and today, two ospreys sitting in their next, surveying their domain. They're not far off (in relation to some of the other places we have to go to get anything), so, maybe we'll get to see their eggs hatch & fledge....
Back to far off, and the title, yeah, we are 9 miles from anywhere (except the water treatment plant) and anything, and even then, with this big ole dually, NUTHIN's easy. Not getting around, not turning, not parking! You should see some of the old peoples' faces when they look up & see us coming!!!
We've found 3 Wal-marts, Sam's Club and the laundromat and a hotel that has wireless out in their parking lot so far. We have not yet made it to the beaches, but we know they're there and we will as soon as we get caught up on our work. They gave us a list of 7projects in the park to complete (in addition to hosting & cleaning) and today I volunteered for some office assignments. I guess the days of sleeping late and long are GONE! And, no, there's no singing & dancing, unless you want to count the kids two sites down running around with fire on the end of their sticks. They gave us a song and dance about not knowing that was a potential fire hazard. And their teachers told me "kids will be kids" - that was after I woke up one of 'em — apparently his fire was mesmerizing??!!
We did treat ourselves to a couple of nice bikes (no motors, just fat tires), though, so at least we can ride around the park and to the office. Maybe even down AT the beach one day, if we get that far! Sunny's not gonna be able to come, though, as the basket I got only holds ten pounds, and she's a good 30!!!
Well, my battery is gonna drain, if I'm not careful, so I'd better get along and go find someplace to dance soon! We just got a letter from Tim; apparently, there's a big dance up in Lakeland next month, and there ar 3 couples attending....I think Lakeland's not too far away, so maybe we'll head up there! That'd be lots of fun. We DO miss everyone and think of y'all often. We miss the challenge of dancing, too, but hopefully, our feet will remember and not fail us!!
Be safe and happy, and don't work too hard!!
Lake Manatee State Park is all it's cracked up to be — a wild and wonderful place, without the luxury amenities of some other private parks. But, that's fine. Day two found us working already, hosting away. Our new "jobs" consist of dong what comes naturally to some....talking. Dick has found his niche! Aside from that, we do have public restrooms to scrub, and I'm pretty sure they haven't been done to our satisfaction in quite some time. The first scrub we gave 'em took us about 6 hours. And they seem to be getting better every day now. And, thankfully, we don't spend quite so much time in them, either.
Wildlife sightings are quite frequent — so far we've seen lots of gopher tortoises, a bald eagle (2x, same one), several sandhill cranes - they are spectacular - the usual white ibis & egrets, great blue herons galore, a possum, a playful racoon, several (live) armadillos, and today, two ospreys sitting in their next, surveying their domain. They're not far off (in relation to some of the other places we have to go to get anything), so, maybe we'll get to see their eggs hatch & fledge....
Back to far off, and the title, yeah, we are 9 miles from anywhere (except the water treatment plant) and anything, and even then, with this big ole dually, NUTHIN's easy. Not getting around, not turning, not parking! You should see some of the old peoples' faces when they look up & see us coming!!!
We've found 3 Wal-marts, Sam's Club and the laundromat and a hotel that has wireless out in their parking lot so far. We have not yet made it to the beaches, but we know they're there and we will as soon as we get caught up on our work. They gave us a list of 7projects in the park to complete (in addition to hosting & cleaning) and today I volunteered for some office assignments. I guess the days of sleeping late and long are GONE! And, no, there's no singing & dancing, unless you want to count the kids two sites down running around with fire on the end of their sticks. They gave us a song and dance about not knowing that was a potential fire hazard. And their teachers told me "kids will be kids" - that was after I woke up one of 'em — apparently his fire was mesmerizing??!!
We did treat ourselves to a couple of nice bikes (no motors, just fat tires), though, so at least we can ride around the park and to the office. Maybe even down AT the beach one day, if we get that far! Sunny's not gonna be able to come, though, as the basket I got only holds ten pounds, and she's a good 30!!!
Well, my battery is gonna drain, if I'm not careful, so I'd better get along and go find someplace to dance soon! We just got a letter from Tim; apparently, there's a big dance up in Lakeland next month, and there ar 3 couples attending....I think Lakeland's not too far away, so maybe we'll head up there! That'd be lots of fun. We DO miss everyone and think of y'all often. We miss the challenge of dancing, too, but hopefully, our feet will remember and not fail us!!
Be safe and happy, and don't work too hard!!
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