Half way through the winter

Millie doing some hand stitching

We are in residency mode, Millie is working on a sewing project for her daughter and I have been milling about, not doing much of anything. I didn't think I really had anything blog worthy to write about. As usual, once I start, I blurt out a lot, but like I said none of it is very exciting. 

Church rummage sales, the Hispanic market and the Salvation army thrift stores are some of our haunts when we want to get out of the RV for a while. That, and going out to eat, which explains why after six weeks of going to the gym everyday, I still weight the same. We've been to; Cracker Barrel, which only makes me homesick for Bakers Restaurant Chicken and Dumplings, Bonefish Grill, still very nice but getting expensive for my retired budget, The mall food court Japanese, not bad, a local grill called Offerdahl's which was good, El Toro Taco which is our go-too Mexican eatery here in south Florida (Thanks John Fraser for that tip) and Alabama Jacks which has it's own story later in this posting.

Larry at Alabama Jack's

We took several bags of DVD's, audio books and printed books to the Salvation Army Store and then I bought 3 DVD's before we left. We could probably make a few bucks selling things like that during one of the campground yard sales, but we feel good about donating them and we don't have to waste any of our time trying to sell them. We've watched one of the DVD's we bought, it is a comedy called Saving Grace, very clean, very cute.

We stopped at a Habitat for Humanity store right after they had received a lot of products from ACE Hardware. They had lots of electrical parts and they were really inexpensive, I really had to hold myself back from purchasing a bunch of it. First, I don't have room to store it and 2^nd, I'm retired. I did buy an assortment of things I felt I may use.

We went to a new-to-us theater which is 12 miles up the turnpike at the Southland Mall. Nice mall with few if any, empty stores, we ate at the food court here. The Regal movie theater was clean and had nice comfortable seating. It will be our south Florida movie theater of choice from now on. The show we saw was called “Lion”. It is the true story of a 5 year old boy from rural India who becomes lost while out at night with his brother. He falls asleep on a train and is transported 1000 miles to Calcutta. He survives on the street for two months before he is taken to an orphanage. He is adopted by a couple from Australia. That is not the end of the story, go see it, we both recommend it.

IMHO Sunny Pawar as the young SaRoo stole the show

We got a note from the campground yesterday telling everyone on the perimeter road we can no longer park in the field behind our our RV's. I asked them this morning what is the problem and was informed construction was to commence back there soon. Nobody seems to know exactly what they are building, I heard two buildings in the center of the field and parking around them. I guess when we come back next year we'll have a new view out the back. Who knows, maybe we'll get a shopping center with a Lil Caesar's Pizza or a Wendy's.

Alabama Jacks

Last Sunday we went to Alabama Jacks down in Key Largo for lunch. It's a busy place located on a canal by the bridge toll booth on Card Sound Road. Card Sound is the old road to the keys, it is a less used local road now-a-days.

Waiting for a table

Jacks is a popular place, the clientele a mix of Harley bikers, snowbirds, tourists on vacation, as well as a few locals. It's open air dining under a long shed roof, it's definitely not high end, more of a ramshackle place that has been here a long time.

Alabama Jacks

It's only open from noon to six pm which seems odd for a restaurant or a bar, but it's the Keys and they hear a different drummer down there. The Keys attitude probably also explains the chaotic way they run the place. There is no seating host, the busboy does that along with his other duties, the tourists wait in line to be seated, and the locals just walk in and wander around looking for a table.

If that's not crazy enough, it doesn't appear that the wait staff have an assigned section, you just have to catch one as they rush by. They put a table number on your order and someone else delivers your meal. You may not see your waiter again until you track them down for your bill. They have a bar and live entertainment. If you're looking to hang out and drink beer this may be your “Margaritaville!”

PS: The fried pickle chips were great!

Fried Pickles

I've had another mail odyssey. I ordered some New Zealand Manuka Honey from Amazon. I goofed up and sent it to my home in Myrtle Beach. No problem I thought, I'll just have my friend take delivery, we do this all the time at the condo for our neighbors. The mail handler, who was not our regular guy refused to give it to him, (We don't know why) I scheduled re-delivery, it never showed up at the condo, I checked the package tracking app, my parcel was now in Virginia, next stop who knows where. I sent another message to USPS, telling them to either sent it back to Myrtle Beach and deliver it to my neighbor or send it to my mail forwarding service in Florida. No reply from postal service and tracking said it was on its way to destination. The big question was, exactly where was the destination they were sending it to?

The next morning it was in Jacksonville Florida and I was reasonably sure it was going to my forwarding service. I called them and gave them a heads up that it was coming and the next day someone I trusted had possession of my package. I had them send it to me at the campground, via UPS this time. It arrived here in south Florida in a couple days. Guess what happened next, Amazon send the wrong product. Their customer service rep refunded my money right away, happy ending right? Wrong, they were supposed to email me a return shipping label, it's been four days and I'm still waiting for it.

Southern Comfort Campground Jammers

The snowbird musicians in the campground had a jam session last week. They have one every two weeks but this was the first time Millie and I didn't have something else planned. We're so busy, don't you know! They hold it in one of the empty sites rather than the activity center because of a no alcohol rule there. I guess the musicians and some of the audience needed a bracer to get thru the performance. Our neighbor Marcel is one of the group and is the lead singer. English is a second language for this French Canadian and he does a remarkable job with the lyrics.

Our neighbor Marcel

That's all I can remember, stay warm! Next posting will be after the car show this weekend.