Merry Christmas

To all of our Dear Friends – Our New Friends and Our Old Friends –

To our families in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and all our family elsewhere –

We are sending our warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas, a Safe and Warm Winter and the Happiest of New Years!

Here are a few of our favorite Christmas Pictures that we would like

To share with all of you!  Count these as our Christmas Cards for you!

Just remember:  JESUS is the Reason for this Season!

Ocala National Forest

We’re in the FOREST!    See Previous Florida Blogs for Salt Springs!  Per usual, we are officially “hunting” for bears!  According to the latest National Forest Magazine, black bears are more widespread than their larger brown cousins.  The Ocala is home to Florida’s largest population of black bears; a 2016 statewide estimate noted that the area around the Ocala supports roughly 1,200 bears with the highest density in the Forest itself - - more than a quarter of the state’s bear population!   Then why haven’t we seen any???

What we have seen is rain!  MORE RAIN!  Last week it started during the evening on Thursday and rained for more than 24 hours straight.  Ocala registered 8 inches!   Now it’s Thursday again and it’s RAINING!   I KNEW I should have bought that rain gauge when we were at the flea market last week!   Luckily for us – the warnings and several small tornados passed south of us.  They were aiming for Orlando and not us.  We did end up with about 4 inches on this second batch of precipitation!

Before the rain hit last week, we heard the piercing squawk of what sounded like a very large parrot coming from the next row over.  The parrot and his people moved in right next to us and his

screened room shelter was placed right between the two trailers!   OH NO!!  Thankfully he settled down and with all the rain, he was kept inside alot.  I finally got to meet ZEUS who is 17 years old and has been with his folks since he was 5 months old.  He can do tricks and talks! He loves having his head scratched!  Isn’t he beautiful?!

 

Salt Springs Campground has changed over the years since we’ve been camping here.  It used to have a big old barn for socializing.  It used to have sites where you could stay for months at a time. This year the limit of stay is 2 weeks on all sites - just like all the other National Forest Campgrounds!  Instead of being almost full at Christmas time – only about a third of the sites have campers.   Zeus and his folks have moved on and we’ve met the fun folks who have moved into that site! Two sites down are a couple we met back when we stayed at EG Simmons County Park!   I was showing her my “wares” and she said she had bought some from a lady years ago but she was sure it wasn’t me.  IT WAS!   It was at EG Simmons!   Our friends that we met here last year just arrived and this weekend our other favorite friends from here are due in!  And Bob from Illinois is back at the resort across the road – he is

still swimming in the springs whenever he can!  On one of our rare sunny days we rode our little bikes over to visit him and H ended up with a flat tire.  HA – he fixed it without removing the tire from the bike!

The truck is fixed!   Ford has had a recall out on the power brake vacuum pump but our local dealer at home would not replace it until it acted up.  It has begun to act up!   If anyone is near Palatka or the Forest and need auto assistance – call BECK Ford (or Chevy, or Nissan, or Chrysler!).  We drove up on Saturday and the part was emergency ordered out of Atlanta.  Monday was frustrating but after contacting Mark, the service manager, nerves were settled and after the call from him again on Tuesday morning – we were there within the hour!  And within the next hour – Jeff had the brake vacuum pump replaced and also the throttle body assembly!   Jeff and H even swapped several stories about their respective FORDS!  He was very knowledgeable and easy to chat with!  On Wednesday, all was fine – on Thursday – after all the rain – there were NO power brakes when the truck was started.  Friday was another phone call and another 20-mile drive up to Palatka.  We are so tired of all this truck drama!  But at least on this trip to the dealership, our Good Lord provided us with a beautiful rainbow to let us know all would be ok.  When the pump was installed on Tuesday the clamp on the vacuum hose was not tightened sufficiently and when H started it on Thursday – it blew it right off!  Simple fix!  

 

Corky Bells Seafood Restaurant has been checked off our list of “must do’s! Their Shrimp and Scallop plate was great as usual but they only serve Shrimp and Grits on Mondays so on our second trip I ordered their shrimp and their cheesy grits as a side dish.  I put the dozen broiled shrimp in the good-sized bowl of grits.   It was good but not as great as Safe Harbor’s!!

And H got to go shoot skeet at the Palatka Trap and Skeet Club again!  While I knitted and chatted on my cell phone he was out

shooting a PERFECT score!!  Way to go H!!   You smoked it!

Saturday was the Christmas potluck and thankfully there was no rain.  No warm weather either but the sun was shining brightly and we were almost warm enough!  My Sweet & Sour Green Beans were devoured – just a few were left aimlessly floating in a puddle of its tangy liquid!

 

Christmas is coming!   We’re moving closer to Ocala for the holiday, which will be spent with D&S before we really head south to (hopefully) the warmer parts of Florida.