An April Fool's joke?

Today is day 13 of our home isolation. It was March 19 that we had a Toastmasters club meeting that we still hoped to be at Denny's. We got to Denny's and met with Kip and Tom but Denny's would not let us stay so we brought Kip and Tom back to our house and held the meeting remotely with Zoom. 

Since then, no one other than Jim and me, has been through our door. We do go out for walks around the neighborhood and, of course, to soak in the hot tub in the back yard. And Jim went to the grocery store on March 23. Here he is getting ready to go with plastic gloves (from the sewer dumping kit in the RV) and a face mask - actually a dive hood?

We've been rearranging things in the house. I cleaned out some file drawers in my office, and Jim completely rearranged his office - getting rid of lots of stuff and turning his desk around against a different wall. He really likes the new arrangement, but now it means we need to paint another green wall.

Chris' office with a stand-up desk and a file cabinet that can actually hold new files now.

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Jim's newly rearranged office - the computer pit /video studio

My office even has enough room now that we could set up our slide projector and screen to get out all those old slides and look at them one last time. When we see a good one, I take its picture with my phone and, voila! it's in Google Photos. We think this is such a cool way to digitize photos, and a cool think to do with this isolation time, that we used it for the topic of our YouTube show, Episode 188: how to get your old slides into Google Photos.

Between walks around our beautiful neighborhood, time to rearrange and use our wonderful home, we're enjoying this #stayhome time. Jim decided he didn't even have to go to the grocery store anymore since Publix home delivery is working so well. Thank you Winston for your delivery service. Winston is the name of the young man who took on the gig of shopping for whatever you put on your online Publix shopping list, and driving it over to our house and dropping it off.  I even have my own private chef. Jim is such a good cook, and he actually enjoys it. So, all I have to do is sit back and tell him when I'm hungry - within the hour I have a delicious, healthy meal in front of me. I throw together an occasional salad, or cut up butternut squash to put in the air fryer.

Can life get any better?

Well, except for the people dying that is.

We watch the news and see field hospitals set up in New York's central park. I hear from my Italian friend, Paolo, that the local paper's obituaries take up over a dozen pages when the norm was less than one page. An assisted living facility just down the street has reported 4 deaths. This is the facility where Mom spent her first 5 years in an ALF. She's in another one now, and they are in lock-down mode. We hear from RVTravel.com that a friend, a fellow seminar presenter, Gary Bunzer, is in critical condition with Covid-19 and is in a Seattle area ICU. Gary is a bit younger than us (I think) and has always look quite fit.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 cases in the USA on March 19 (when we started our lockdown) numbered 15,291. As of March 30, that number is 165,539. On March 19, the death toll was 150, today it is 4,079 according to Our World in Data.
This is catastrophe. The zombie apocalypse come to life. The world is experiencing the medical disaster envisioned in the movie "Outbreak." It is an unthinkable horror, the end of the world as we know it.

So, how is it possible that life can be so good for us? We are lucky indeed, but it feels like more than that. It is surreal. It's an episode of the Twilight Zone. How can the world be in such danger when the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining? Don't they know it's the end of the world? (thank-you BeckyJo for this reference)
Maybe it's the 2020 version of War of the Worlds? Maybe when we wake up tomorrow, April 2, we will discover that it's all been some cruel April Fool's joke? One can only hope.

Meanwhile we can't panic. The most important thing we can do is to follow the guidelines for "social distancing" so we don't get infected, and don't infect others. If possible, enjoy yourself, spread loving thoughts. My favorite meme from this has been:

Our parents were asked to go to war. We're being asked to stay home on the couch.

We got this. 

Staying at the Ranch

Whenever we know we're driving through Texas we make a point of stopping in Waco to see our old friend, Frank Drew. It feels funny to refer to him as an old friend because we met him when we started RVing, but that was 14 years ago. Even more than the years, it's the feeling of being family that makes me call him an old friend.

He was actually our boss for 2003-5. His company was Coach Connect and they had big plans for Wi-Fi in RV parks all over the country. Our job was to visit all the RV parks where they had installed Wi-Fi and teach the park staff and current residents how to use it. We also presented the Coach Connect seminars at the big rallies, FMCA and Good  Sam. .

With Frank (at Jim's right) and the Coach Connect crew at our first Rally in 2004

Jim in the Coach Connect Austin office in 2005

Jim was their second level tech support, he handled all the phone calls from people who were having problems connecting to the internet. He was quite good at it, but I don't think anyone could call it fun

Because of Coach Connect we spent a lot of time in Austin and got to know Frank and his family. Our first Thanksgiving was with Frank's family at his parents house in Austin. 

By 2006 coach connect was no more, and geek's on tour was born. Frank now has a company (Hey Cupcake) that sells cupcakes from food trucks. He really enjoys having happy customers now, as opposed to being yelled at all the time by wifi customers.

Frank has since gotten married and has a little daughter. We feel part of this new family too since one of their first dates was dinner at our motor home at an RV park in Austin.

We were thrilled when it worked out to stop for a day and visit. Frank suggested we park at the ranch. What a beautiful spot.

He took us for a tour around the property and even let Jim drive. 

We met some cows and horses and Jim flew his drone over the house and the river. Video later.

We even got to stop by Mom and Dad's on our way out of town.

It's always good to see you Frank! We want you to come visit us in Florida sometime. We'll take you scuba diving.

Trick or Treat Christmas

It seemed a dirty trick that our RV would be in the service bay at Lazydays for the entire holiday season, but as it turned out – it was a treat.  We decided to clean out the RV so as to leave it locked up and hand the keys over to Lazydays in Tampa, and then drive to Fort Lauderdale and stay at Mom’s townhouse for the holidays.  Hopefully, with 2-3 weeks to work on it, they’ll be able to fix the slide right!
We packed up several computers, tablets, and smartphones – and a couple items of clothing.  We really don’t need anything else.  Dee, who lives at the townhouse now (Mom’s in an Assisted Living Facility) was spending the holidays with her family, so we had the place to ourselves – complete with Cable High Speed Internet!  I have a desk upstairs for my computer and Jim has a desk downstairs for his.  What a treat.  The weather has been beautiful, so we’re also enjoying the small, private backyard.  Here’s the Video Christmas Card we recorded there:

And, of course, being in our hometown for the holidays is full of family and friends.  We went to the Christmas party at our Dive Shop – UnderSea Sports – and reconnected with some dive buddies.  We attended the Toastmaster’s Club Christmas breakfast.  And we split Christmas day between brunch at Jim’s sister’s in West Palm Beach, and dinner at Jo Ellen’s with Devon, grandkids, and Mom.

Debbie says she hardly decorated for Christmas at all!  I’d say it was incredibly festive with the Christmas tree and then all the miniature Christmas trees, garlands, nativity scenes, and of course, champagne mimosas and food.  Thanks for doing all the work Debbie and Bob!

“Uncle” Bill makes a great Santa Claus:

Then it was back down to Fort Lauderdale, pick up Mom, and go to Jo Ellen’s house for Christmas dinner with the rest of the family … We used the occasion to take a very rare photo of the whole group – Mom, Me, Lacey, Aiva, AJ, Jo Elen, Devon, Jim:

Here we are all around the dinner table.  There’s a little story behind this photo – it’s actually made up of 3 or 4 pictures – I’ll write about it in our Geeks on Tour newsletter this week.

Aiva was so cute helping Grandma with the dinner!


And, here’s a typical scene with AJ playing video games.  I think Dad is giving him some pointers here.


Nice picture of Mom, Me, and Jim.  Thanks to the photographer … Aiva!





AJ likes presents!  Surprised?


Dot – Devon’s dog.
Merry Christmas to All!

Military Honors for Jim Guld, Sr. at Arlington National Cemetery

This took a while to get scheduled, but it all came together and quite a few family members were able to attend. 

Jim set up an event page for the day so his Hangout video would be posted there in addition to pictures from anyone who attended.

Family came from Boston, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Florida.  We were so pleased that we could all be together to honor Jim’s wonderful Dad.  First we gathered in the administration building.

Then we caravaned to the gravesite.

It was a bit of a drizzly day, but not so bad that we couldn’t comfortable be outside.  The flag was meticulously folded and handed to Jim’s sister, Debbie.  Taps played and a gunfire salute was offered in the distance.

Then we walked over to where Jim’s Mom, Frankie is already buried – she was in the Navy also.  Jim Sr’s name will be inscribed on the opposite side of the headstone.

Here’s Jim and his sister, Debbie.

And here’s the family group shot.

Please take a look at the event page to view the video and hear Taps! 

Dentists, Leprechauns, and Butterflies

We love life on the road, but we also love having a place we call home with so many connections, friends, and familiar places. 
On the way to Fort Lauderdale from Peace River, we used Jim’s new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet, with MS Streets and Trips installed, to navigate.  We've been looking forward to this.  Our first few years on the road Streets and Trips was our sole mapping/navigating system.  Then came the Garmin, Rand McNally, Google Navigation on the smartphone, and others.  We continue to do the planning on Streets and Trips, and now with the Windows 8 tablet, we want to get back to Navigating with it too ..

Microsoft Windows 8 Surface Pro running Streets and Trips

We only had a week here in Fort Lauderdale, but it was full.  Jim and I both took care of some Doctor and Dentist visits.  I had appointments with both Mom’s accountant, and ours – and I got all the tax returns done and filed!
I visited Mom and took her to one of our favorite nearby attractions, Butterfly World.  What great photo opps there are there!

She enjoyed it, but she tired quickly.  She had a cold. Such a weird thing about her Alzheimers - she doesn't even know what a cold is, she denies being sick.   She just says she needs kleenex for her drippy nose.
We also got together with friends several different times, the most colorful was for St. Patrick's Day - Mary Helen always puts together a great group of people and wonderful food - so when she invited us to her Irish dinner, we jumped at the opportunity.  Her friend, Jim, has a DeLorean car.  He said, since it was made in Ireland, he was obligated to drive it on St. Patrick's Day.  It made quite a hit.

As did the Corned Beef and Cabbage traditional Irish dinner.

It was sad to be at our home RV park (Paradise Island) without Odie.  He's been with us since the beginning.  To some, we're simply known as Odie's parents ... and we had to break the news to them.  Sometimes I feel awful for having made the decision to put him down.  Other times I know it was the best thing to do ... best isn't always easy. Still other times, I am motivated by new beginnings.  Jim and I have gone for a 2 mile walk almost every morning for the last week.  Jim tore up the horribly stained carpet in our living room area and found the linoleum was under 80% of it!  I bought a little throw rug to cover the rest, and it's like we have a new RV!  We used to talk about some of the things we would do when we didn't have a dog to take care of ... now, what were they?

We just had to get rid of the horribly stained carpet regardless of what was underneath.  What we found was just great.

Goodbye Odie

The last 6 months have been tough.  Odie’s had a heart murmur since we first got him at 2 years old (he was from Poodle Rescue) but it was classified at level 1-2, which doesn’t affect his health.  Last September, I worried about an persistent cough and took him to a vet where we were in Sedalia, MO.  Our home vet had mentioned that coughing could be a sign of the heart murmur getting worse.  But this vet said, “No, the cough isn’t from the heart, it’s a collapsed trachea.”  Well, is that good news or bad?  But, he also listened to his heart and classified the murmur at stage 5-6.  All bad news.  But he was hanging in there.
When we got back to Ft. Lauderdale in late October, I took him to his primary vet with the idea that it may be time to put him down.  The scariest thing was when he collapsed once – I thought it was a stroke, it could have been a seizure, or it could have been fainting for lack of blood flow – he just fell hard, in a twisted little pile of poodle.  But, in a minute, he recovered fully and was livelier than before.  Jim and I joked that he overheard us talking about putting him down, and he was trying to say, “Hey look at me!  I feel Great!”
The Vet took some tests and prescribed some heart medication.  That really made a difference, Odie wasn’t struggling to breathe anymore, he could sleep peacefully.  But it was still clear that he was declining.  The coughing continued and the collapsing episodes started up again.  Sometimes he would collapse 3-4 times in a day.  But he always recovered.  And he still had good times – he still went for walks every day, just shorter ones.  It was tough to get him to eat.  Dog food was out of the question, but he still eagerly accepted bites of steak from our plate!
But, yesterday, I felt I saw real pain on his face as he tried to stretch but something caught him mid-stretch.  I have seen this before and believe it was something intestinal.  I couldn’t get him to eat at all – not even a piece of stew meat – and he wasn’t even drinking.  Intestinal issues pass in a day or so, but I just said = “Enough.”  It’s time to let him go.  Whenever I’ve suggested that over the last few months, Jim has poo-poohed me.  My sense is that Jim wasn’t ready to let go.  But, yesterday he said, “I agree.”
I called a local vet and started to make an appointment for the following morning, then I looked at Odie in distress and asked if they had a time available that afternoon.  They did.  My greatest fear has been to wait too long.  I didn’t want to spend a painful night with him, when it’s in my power to prevent that.  We took him for a last walk to the nature trail we all love so much, but we had to carry him half the way.  I think we made the right decision.
Since Odie has lived his whole life on the road – a car ride is not a bad omen for him.  He loves car rides, and he loves going inside new places … even Veterinary offices!  Wouldn’t you know, he was perky and making friends with everyone in the waiting room.  I was in agony.  Jim tried to comfort me.  He picked Odie up and we both went into the exam room.  They call it ‘putting them to sleep’ for a reason – that’s just what it’s like.  Odie laid his head on my arm and we both stroked him.  I didn’t know I had so many tears in me.  Then we left to face life without our dear sweet Odie.
Jim tries to get me to focus on the good memories with Odie, and he’s right – there were SO many.  Here’s one of the best – and we caught it on video:

With all that energy, people sometimes asked us, “Isn’t he hyper and drive you crazy in the RV?”  Nope, he was as mellow as could be in the motorhome – he would just lay on his couch all day long as long as we were there, usually at our computers, he was content.

He didn’t like it when we were gone though.  We would say that he Hated Rallies, because at RV Rallies we were gone most of the time.

We loved our Odie.  Now we have to learn to live without him


Lots more pictures of Odie – from the beginning.

Cold in Florida?

We are in Orlando, Florida at the Thousand Trails park here.  Some people will tell you that you have to be at least to Frostproof, Florida before you are out of danger of freezing temperatures. In the map below our location is the upper pushpin and Frostproof is the lower.  So that could explain why I woke up to frost the other morning.  On the other hand, I’ll bet they did in Frostproof too! 

If you look up Frostproof in Wikipedia, you’ll find:

The name was a marketing ploy to convince potential landowners that the town has never had, and never would have, a frost that could destroy the large citrus-driven economy. However, only a couple of years later, a frost killed most of the citrus in Frostproof.

We got here on Monday night and had a seminar to present in Zephyrhills, about an hour away, on Tuesday.  Then Jim left me here and drove back to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday because he was told his Dad wasn’t going to live another 24 hours.  They were right, he’s glad he went.  He’ll write another post about his Dad soon.

Before he left, he showed me how to put the awnings up in case I needed to do that while he was gone.  Yes, I have done this before, but he normally does it, so I forget the procedure from one time to the next.  So I took video with my cell phone while he went thru the steps. It came out good.  I’m going to use this!  You can see the videos here.

Jim returned after helping his sister handle all the immediate affairs.  Then we will be back in Fort Lauderdale next week for services.  His Dad was a real class act. I’m sad to see him pass, but I know he’s been ready to join his beloved wife Frankie.  Rest in Peace Capt. Jim!

Although it’s been cold at night, the days have been sunny and delightful.  We have lots of good friends who are also here.  We got to reconnect with Kim and Robert Jandle who were parked just down the street from us.  Phil and Tracey May were also here, as well as Nick and Terry Russell.  If you think RVing is a lonely lifestyle, we would beg to differ.  And, we had a beautiful, secluded site perfect for visiting.

A week at home

Fort Lauderdale, Florida is where we call home.  My grandparents moved here in the 1950s.  I lived here when I was 2, then Mom met my stepdad and he moved us to Seattle, Washington then Alaska.  That’s one way to avoid the in-laws!  We moved back here when I was in high school, then I took off for parts unknown and didn’t return till I was 30.  That was 1983.  Jim has lived in Fort Lauderdale since the 80s as well.  We hit the road in 2004, but the glorious winter weather, the scuba diving, and lots of family and friends keep us coming back here and we still call it home.

One day this week was so drop-dead gorgeous that I just had to get out on the water.  So, I grabbed Mom from her assisted living place, and my friend Dee, and we hitched a ride on a water taxi.

Ridin' the Water Taxi

This picture was taken just about at the point in the New River where my grandparents lived.  I can’t figure out what property was theirs now because all the old homes have been torn down and mansions built in their place.

Our view while eating lunch at Bahia Cabana in Fort Lauderdale

Me and Mom at Bahia Cabana

Within an hour of dropping Mom back off at home, you could ask her what she did today and she’d tell you … oh nothing.  “Didn’t you go for a water taxi ride with Chris today?”  “No, I haven’t seen Chris in a long time.”  Alzheimers has taken away her ability to remember anything from minute to minute.  But, she sure looks happy here doesn’t she?

I’m afraid I can’t say the same for Jim’s Dad.  He doesn’t get out of bed any more, and he has 24 hour Hospice care.  All we can do is visit, hold his hand and tell him we love him.  We did get together with Jim’s sister and look at some old pictures.  Here’s a great one of him pumping gas at his Texaco station in 1966.

Jim Guld Sr. working at his Texaco station circa 1966

We looked at a lot of old pictures, and I spent some time taking pictures of them.  We like this way of capturing old photos rather than scanning them. It’s a lot easier, quicker, and just as good or better quality.  We’ll be doing a day long seminar for a genealogy group in the Orlando area. We’re preparing.

Taking pictures of old pictures rather than scanning them

Our reason for coming to town was to do a Smartphone seminar for a computer user group at the community of Bellaggio.  This is the second time we’ve been invited to speak here and it went very well.

Someone there snapped this photo of us and sent it to us.  Thanks!

Geeks on T our presenting a smartphone seminar at Bellaggio Computer User Group

Today we’re taking off again and are headed to Orlando Thousand Trails park.  We are booked to present our seminars at several clubs in the Orlando / Tampa / Port Charlotte area.  Then we’ll be back in Fort Lauderdale again on Feb 18.  See our calendar for more details.