Prep. For Cruise - Nov 23, 2008 -

Since we moved here to Thonotosassa on Wednesday, it seems we’ve been really busy; but, doing nothing in particular. This is a nice park, mostly permanent residents and snowbirds; many of the snowbirds haven’t arrived yet so there are lots of open spaces. Our neighbor told us the snowbirds that have our site for the season usually arrive after Christmas. Foxy likes it here because there are lots of squirrels, cats and other dogs; but, she especially likes it because the residents spoil her with snacks and treats. She heads straight for the office every morning for her handouts from the guys at the rec. hall for breakfast.

I went to the mall and had my hair cut; that’s always an adventurous undertaking but I was happy with the outcome, even if the service was a bit pricey. I did a little shopping and Joe stayed home and installed Photo Shop Elements 7, which had arrived in the mail. I had purchased an instructional DVD but it wouldn’t play on any of our computers so a replacement disc is on the way to me; unfortunately, it won’t arrive before we leave.

Brrrr, it’s been cold, especially at night; the heat is getting a workout; daytime highs are not too bad but we don’t remember the evenings being this cold. We were both in the mood for something beyond leftovers for dinner and there’s an Outback Steakhouse about 5 miles away so we headed there for dinner. The food was better than we’ve had at Outback recently so we were happy about that.

We did a little organizing to prepare for packing for our cruise. The tight space makes it almost impossible to do much in advance. Fortunately, I’m a champion packer, thanks to years of business travel when I worked, so it won’t take long once we get the bags out of the Jeep and into the motor home.

We ordered the Bay Shuttle to transport us to the Seaport on Monday; they require a 24-hour notice and operate on a 30-minute window. So, the driver is to collect us between 1 and 1:30 p.m. We will need to take Foxy to the kennel before noon; we are not looking forward to that, but it is a necessary evil to get her properly taken care of while we’re away.

We will switch to a separate journal for our Thanksgiving cruise and then switch back to this one after we return……..so, sail away with us to the Eastern Caribbean……….maybe, we’ll escape these cool temperatures for a few days.