12/31/18 - We went to the UPS store and the store closed early because of the holiday so I have the computer one more day.  I also got a call from the repairman and I am so happy because he sweet talked to the guy who was going to re-build the alternator to let him take it to his shop so he could do it early on Wednesday and the guy already has re-build one exactly like mine and so the repairman stated that he doesn't really celebrate New Years and could come in the late afternoon but Aunt Esther and I have plans as I stated before so he will be here at 9:00 am on Wednesday morning so it looks like Esther and I can start for Missississippi on Thursday.  I am so happy.

12/31/18 - This afternoon we plan to run a few errands.

1/1/19 - Plan to go to Sarasota to visit Aunt Inez and Esther Miller for the last time before leaving.

I need to send this computer back to Delaware since they got me a new one so that Jesse can re-install all the programs I have no here to the new one.  So I will not be blogging for a while as long as he has the computer.

12/31/18 - On 12/28, I left Bradenton and drove to Tampa to pick up Aunt Esther.  She came in from Cleveland at 9:30 am.  We got her unpacked and settled in.

12/29, I went to the office to inform them that I needed to stay at least an extra day or even maybe two since I was having trouble getting the RV repaired.  I was told the space was rented on the 3rd of January and I would have to move out of the space by then.  Aunt Esther and I talked it over and knew we had to move before Monday morning since I had the repair guy come out to take out the alternator since he had to take it to a shop to re-build.

12/30, We went to church and then had lunch with1st cousin Connie Miller, husband and family.  We had a good time.  We decided not to go to their house for the afternoon since we needed to move the RV to another space.  We got home, changed clothes and started to put things away, locked up things, unhook to move to another space, when Aunt Esther went to move in the slides, there was no connection and no movement.  I had a FIT.  I also learned that the engine would not start!  I was so upset but we started to discuss things and decided that we probably could try to jump the battery.  It was very tight between the RV and the trailer next door but with a lot of help from Aunt Esther we got the car in, hooked up the jumper cables and then tried to start the RV but no luck.  I then changed some of the cables, and I had to increase the RPM's in the car and after a little while, sure enough we got it started.  Then to get the car out of the tight area was a bit of a challenge but we got it done without hitting anything.  The slides came in, the unhooking continued and soon I pulled out of the site.  The site I am in now, was a pull through so a little easier to get in.  We got hooked up and then rested awhile and then really hunger for ice cream so off to the store.   Aunt Esther did buy a few more items but ice cream was definitely on the list.  Back to the RV to watch some football since the Cleveland Browns were playing.  Sad to say, they lost by 2 points!  We then showered since it was rather warm, turned on the air conditioner and settled in for the evening.

Today, I made a phone call to the repairman about my battery getting drained and my fiasco but of course he has not called back.  The repair guy came at 9:00 am and took out the alternator to get it re-build and hopefully put in on Thursday so we can leave on Friday.  Time will tell.

12/26/18 - On 12/20, I went to Aunt Inez's house to block an afghan and spent a little time with her before we went over to Esther's house for dinner.

 On 12/22, I spent the evening with Esther, Lloyd, Gail, Mahlon, Jan, Ashley and Allison.  We went out for dinner and then to the house to play some games.

12/23, Off to church and to Esther's house for lunch.  Esther and Lloyd were invited to a wedding anniversary and I went over to Aunt Inez's house to pick up the afghan so I can get it mailed.  Later I learned that my Aunt Kay in Goshen, Indiana passed away.  She was 91 and lived an exciting life.  Her last couple of years, were not the best so I am glad to finally got to go to heaven.

12/25, I spent the day with Esther and her family.  We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and I ate a piece of ham that was too big and the piece ended  up getting stuck in the lower esophagus and ended up not able to eat until around 3 pm.  The family went to a Christmas parade and I stayed at home and started a puzzle.  Ashley, Allison and I did finish the puzzle.  It was a picture of dogs and cats and was 300 pieces.

Today, I waited all day for a repairman to check out my batteries or alternator and he finally came a little over 5 pm!! According to him, it is the alternator so now I am trying to get that replaced.  The repairman promised he would be back tomorrow around noon, to change out the batteries since they have been in the wrong place.  The house batteries are attached to the engine and the engine batteries are attached to the house!! 

12/16/18 - On 12/14, Robyn came over and picked me up and we went to the eye appointment which turned out to be at 10:20 am instead of 10:00.  I got an excellent report with every thing intact and 20/20 vision.  I was finally DONE.  I got a call later and Dr. Harrison requested a visual field test some time in the Spring but that will wait.  Robyn and I then went out for lunch and to the rehab center.  I decided to stay with Aunt Ada so Robyn could go home and get some things done.  Aunt Ada went to Occupational therapy and during that time Jan (an old neighbor of Aunt Ada) so we visited until Aunt Ada returned.  She stayed for awhile and when she left I called Aunt Martha to talk to Aunt Ada but that conversation was very short because she was busy.  Soon she got another visitor Mary (a friend from church).  Later Ron came in after the conference.  We chatted for awhile and then Ron went out and got some Subway sandwiches and we had dinner with Aunt Ada in the conference room.  We then spent a bit of time with her until it was time for them to get her ready for bed.  I went back to the house and did some packing.  Off to bed early since Ron and I decided that we had to leave early for the airport.

12/15, I got up at 4:15 am and we left for the airport at 5:00 am since we were not sure of the traffic and had about an hour to the airport.  Since I did not have a seat assignment, I needed to get there a little early then usual.  Well, we did not have any traffic at all so got to the airport around 5:45 am so I had plenty of time.  Ron then drove to his medical conference and was going to take a little nap in the car since he was really early as well.  I had a good trip with no delays and got back to Sarasota at 6:45 pm.  Esther's husband Lloyd and daughter Gayle came to the airport and picked me up.  I had the car parked at their house.  I left to come home since I knew that I would see them tomorrow.  It was good to be home.

Today, I went to church, was introduced to a grilled venison filet mignon for lunch.  It was very good.  We then played some games and in the evening did a living nativity drive thru that the church had scheduled.  It was very interesting with all the actors, actresses and animals.  They knew about a neighborhood that does beautiful decorations and so we also drove through that neighborhood.  It was beautiful.  The neighborhood put huge arches up over the road and cars drove under it.  Was quite interesting.  Time for bed.

12/16/18 - On 2/12, I got up at 7:00 am to finish packing and meeting my ride at Esther's house in Sarasota at 8:30 am.  My flight was out at 10:10 am from Sarasota to Charlotte, North Carolina.  I had an hour lay over so was hoping to have time to get a sandwich since the next flight was at least 4 hours but I soon learned that I had to walk from Terminal E to Terminal B.  They do have some people movers so that helped but I only had about 10 minutes and then they did start the boarding process late so it was longer at the gate.  I did quickly walk around the corner and got a bag of chips.  I had a good flight but was about 15 minutes late getting in and 1st Cousin Ron was in early.  He is Aunt Ada's son and was coming in to visit his mother and attend a medical conference.  He rented a car so we  had transportation to the rehab center when Aunt Ada was.  Because of the distance and traffic, we got to the rehab center around 7:00 pm.  We said our greetings and gave her a hug and then cousin Robyn, Ron and I went to get some dinner.  Ron and I stayed at Aunt Ada's house.  Off to bed.

2/13 - Ron and I decided to meet Aunt  Ada at around 10:00 am since she would be back from her therapy.  We visited for a while, then went for lunch.  Ron got tickets to visit the Desert Botanical Gardens but of course Aunt Ada could go and Robyn needed to stay and get some instructions regarding Aunt Ada's therapy so it was just Ron and I.  Ron was very kind and gave two of the tickets to a couple that had just gotten to the window to purchase tickets.  He also had a dinner reservation at a restaurant in the gardens.  We walked around for a while but then of course I needed to sit and rest so I sent him on his way to do more exploring since of course he could cover alot more area.  He did come back and walked me to a small art museum in the gardens that was very neat.  We discussed regarding the fact that I would be only to see a small part of the light show that was going to happen after dark and Ron stated I would be missing alot but I wanted him to enjoy it so told him I would just do what I could.  We had seen that some wheelchairs were around so checked and sure enough we good get a rental for free.  I gave up and swallowed my pride since I really did want to see more of the light show.  We had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant.  Soon it was dark and poor Ron was wheeling me around!!  The light show was phenomenal.  It got a little chilly but I did survive.  Ron took some short videos to show his mother later.  We got back to the house a little before 8:00 pm.  Ron went to bed early since he had to leave early to attend the medical conference.

12/10/18 - This morning I started to call at 9:00 am which is 7:00 am in Phoenix for a new appointment because I had checked and the recording stated the phone service starts then.  Well, that is not true but I got so frustrated with the strange recording that I was able to type in Dr. Harrison's name and I got his personal line and I did not tell who I was but I needed to make an appointment and not sure what was wrong with the phones.  I heard him tell his assistant "how did this patient get my number" and will you please help her!!  I was then told that they won't open the phone lines until 7:30 and I should try back.  I finally got them at 7:50 am and of course the receptionist was not helpful at all and stated his next appointment was not until 1/14/19.  Of course, I tried and tried to explain that was impossible but she would not even try.  I then told her to leave a message for Kathy (Dr. Harrison's assistant) to call me and to make the message "urgent".  Now whether that happened or not, I don't know but within the hour Kathy called and was very, very helpful and understood the situation.  I got an appointment for Friday at 10:00 am!!  I also called and have an appointment on Monday 12/17 to get the RV repaired.  Keep your fingers crossed that it won't cost an arm and leg!

I also learned this morning that there were two tornadoes that touched down about an hour north of me.  Thank God, Bradenton was spared.  We are two days of cold weather and then I fly to Phoenix and they are also cold!!

12/9/18 - This part of the blog will not be dated.  I learned some time in late November that I would have to keep my 6 month (and final) cataract appointment in Sun City, Arizona because if I had the appointment here some things would not be covered since Florida did not do the surgery.  My appointment is scheduled on 12/11/18 at 10:00 am.  I then got busy and made my airline reservation using points on a Visa card.  I am scheduled out at 5:06 am on 12/10 and could not get a return until 12/15. 

12/7 - I had appointment with my first cousin's son-in-law who does mobile auto mechanic work to come and check out the batteries to see if there was a loose wire.  He did a lot of checking and could not find a loose wire but did state that the house batteries were running low and may need to be replaced and there was an indication that there was nothing charging the batteries.  Since he does not work on RV's, he gave me a referral to see if I can set up an appointment with a mobile RV individual.  Later in the evening I learned that Aunt Ada had fallen and fractured the left hip and Robyn was on the way to the hospital.  I later got a text and she was admitted to the hospital.

12/8 - Aunt Ada had her surgery today and surgery went well.  I went to dinner with Esther (1st cousin) and her family and back to her house since we were playing some games.  I got a call from American Airlines and my flight on 12/10 has been cancelled due to weather in North Carolina.  I then was informed that they would not be able to re-book me until Wednesday.  Of course, I had my usual fit and requested various possiblities but finally had to give up.  I am now scheduled on 12/12 a 10:10 am.  Now, I have to call on Monday and try to re-schedule my appointment.  Aunt Ada's son Ron, has a medical conference in Scottsdale, Arizona on 12/14, 15 and 16 but was arriving on 12/12 to spend some time with his mother.  So now since my flight has been changed, I learned that he is on American and so am I and we arrive in Phoenix 5 minutes apart so now I have a ride from the airport on that day.

12/9, We had a tornado watch about and hour north of me and did not materialize.  Thank goodness.  Went to church and spent the afternoon and evening with Esther and her family.