Tractors, Tractors and more Tractors

Feb, 25th Thursday we went to the Florida Flywheel Show in Ft Mead. We went with Jerry’s sister Arlene and her husband Gary. Before they retired they were farmers. They had a farm in upstate NY. Jerry and his whole family was brought up on a farm so they all like to see old tractors and such.

Well, at the show they got their wish. I have never saw that many tractors in one place before. There were all kinds of them. Every make and model. There were a lot of old engines of every kind of description also.  In the afternoon they had a parade of tractors. Here are a few.

This is a HUME. It is a one of a kind.

They had an old village with old school house, homes, old blacksmith shop, bank, firehouse, garage and many more.  There were many old cars also.

There was an flea market also. There were rows and rows of things for sale. From car and tractor parts, tools, household things to whatever you wanted to buy.

We left about 4:00 to go home. We stopped in The Villages at the Olive Garden for dinner. It was about a three hour drive one way but we had a good time.

Dinner with friends

Last Friday, the 19th, we went to the Oakwood Grill in Lady Lake, which is south of The Villages, with our friends. Terry, his sister Kathy and her husband Paul. It Oakwood Grill has some good barbeque. They have baby back ribs, plus pulled pork which is outstanding.

We have been going golfing a couple of times a week with Terry.

Sunday we went for a ride to the west coast again. We went as far as we could go. We ended up in Sawanna. It is a fishing and boating community. It is about 24 miles off of route 19. It is pretty isolated back there with not much else between route 19 and the town besides swampy land and trees.

Monday it rained so we went shopping. Jerry is looking for a light windbreaker. He hasn’t been able to find any, yet. We stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods so Jerry could look for a pinching wedge. Well, they had some good sales there so he ended up buying a new golf set.

Tuesday, we went golfing again so Jerry could try out his new set.

Jerry’s sister Bev invited us down for dinner Tuesday night. She made a nice roast beef dinner with cherry and apple pies for dessert.

Wednesday, I did some cleaning while Jerry & Terry with up to the OBS for some horse racing. It looks like it is starting to rain. Right now I am at the clubhouse to post this blog so I have to be getting back to condo before it rains.  

Jerry’s back

Well, Jerry made it back to Florida. They ran into snow problems after they crossed over the border in Maryland. So they decided to pull off the interstate in West Virginia because they new there was a casino at Charlestown. So they got hotel room there. It was to bad to continue the next day so they stayed right there another night. They finally got here on Friday.

Since then we have gone golfing a couple of times.

We haven’t been doing much this week because it has been cold here this past week.

Super Bowl

I haven’ been doing to much this week. I have been doing a little cleaning of the condo, plus a little shopping.

Well, while Jerry is up north watching the super bowl with his friends. I watched it with his sisters and brothers. His sister Bev and husband John invited me over for the super bowl. Jerry’s brother Bruce and sister Arlene with her husband Gary were also there. We had a nice meal that everybody brought a dish while Bev made pulled pork. We watched the game and we left after the meal.

Jerry’s brother Bobs daughter Debbie with her husband Tim was down to go to Daytona races. Her sister Sharie came over from Tenn to see the races with them.

Tuesday Bev had the family over again for a get together to see Debbie,Tim and Sharie. We all had a nice visit.

Jerry is on his way down with buddy Terry. They got as far as Maryland last night. They ran into the snowstorm on the lower part of Penn.

The Villages

Monday & Tuesday, it rained most of the day. I didn’t do to much either day. Tuesday, I did go to the Library in Ocala to go on line. It is a nice big modern library.

Wednesday, Jan 3rd, I went for my walk in morning and after lunch I went down to The Villages. The Villages is a (55+) retirement village that is so big that it is a village of its own. They have their own hospital, fire dept, schools ( which is for the children of the workers).  There are just about any kind of restaurants in the area. There are two town centers where they have some kind of entertainment every night. Everybody seems to own a golf cart. They have golf cart trails all over. Everybody drives them to the town centers. They have tunnels under the main roads so if you want to go over a main route you don’t have to disturbed the car traffic. They have quite a few different golf courses there.

This is a golf cart bridge over route 441.

This is Main Street going to Spanish Springs Landing. (town center).

This is were they have the entertainments. After dark this will be loaded with people.

In the center.

Church in the square.

Movie theater.

This is the other town center called Sumpter Landing.

 This is looking toward one of the hotels at Sumpter Landing.

The town center at Sumpter Landing.

I went into most of the shops at both town centers. They have quite a few upscale shops, like Chico's, Paddington's, Van Heusen, Bass and more.

RV SHOW

Sunday, Jan 31th I didn’t have much to do so I went to the RV show in Florida Horse Park which is southeast of Ocala.

I wandered around there for a couple of hours looking at the RV’s. Big and small.

I know that Jerry wouldn’t have looked at them with me. He has no interest in any RV. He says that they are to expensive and to much trouble. We do quite a bit of traveling but it is always with the car and staying in motels. His idea of camping is taking the truck that has a cap on it and camping in that. We have done that and we have had fun. We put the clothes in suitcases and camping equipment, like small grill plus what else we need in the front of cap and have air mattress in the rest of space. I made some curtains to cover the windows that can be taken down when we drive.

Two years ago we went to Denver and visited the kids in Colorado. While there we stayed with the kids but when we left we headed west. We camped at Arches National Park and spent two days there. Had a wonderful time going on all the trails.

From there we went on up through Utah, Organ, Washington to Vancouver, Canada. We went on cruise up to Alaska and then flying back to Vancouver.  While driving to Vancouver we camped in a couple of state parks, including Mount Washington. We went on cruise with 4 other couples from back home. They fly from Albany to Vancouver. After we flew back to Vancouver we drove back home.

So, that is our type of  “RVing” we do.

If you notice I have quite a few RV blogs that I follow. I guess you would call me a wannabe RVer. I enjoy hearing about all the places that people go.

The rest of the story

Well, I haven’t been doing to much since Jerry left. Now, would be the time to talk about the rest of the family.

Our oldest son JJ, Eric the youngest and Pam the youngest daughter all live in Colorado. Right now they are all single.

Pam and her ex with 2 daughters Arica and Amber moved out there about 16 years ago. Then Eric moved up from Texas after he was in service. He has son Mason who lives in Texas with his mother and Dolan who lives with him. Dolan’s mother died when he was young. JJ moved out from New York to start new life because there wasn’t many jobs here.

I flew out to Colorado last year for a week to visit them. Jerry didn’t go because he said he had to work. Over the years we have been out there many times.

Here are pictures of them taken when I was out there last summer.

Pam, Amber and Arica

Eric with his dog. Dolan wasn’t there when I was there because he was in South Dakota with his other grandparents.

This is Eric’s son Mason who lives in Texas. He graduates from high school in May and then going into the Air Force.

This our oldest son JJ. We stopped at this restaurant after going up on Mt Evans.

Our daughter Tracy is also single. She lives in Rochester, NY. She came down and visited us last year while we were in Florida. This picture was taken with Jerry at Homosassa State Park.

Brenda came down last year also. She took Dulce to Walt Disney world. Here is Dulce with one of the princesses. I can’t remember which one. Brenda is standing by. I had picture of her in earlier post.

 

The only one left is son Jeff that is living with us in New York while in process of building his house with his wife Donna. I don’t have any pictures on my computer of Jeff and Donna. I have many home though. I will add one when I get back to NY.

Well, that brings you up to date with our family.