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Maisley - I agree that New Jersey has some beautiful areas to paint pine barons are beautiful some of the seashore areas are nice but I guess I was referring to Northern New Jersey which is just a subdivision of New York. I have a very good friend a couple actually that lived in Collingswood for many years and they just retired last year to a gated community in South Carolina. They don’t miss Jersey at all. But I will concede South Jersey has got but more appeal than North jersey.

Maki 2 - that weather sounds interesting. I’ve just spent the last few hours calling my friends in Pennsylvania where it’s 17° telling them about our 82° high today and are 65° low for tonight. It sure is fun to rub it in. Now what exactly are the “noogies” that are freezing off? Remember how dumb I am. But I do have a vivid imagination. Is that something you should’ve shared in the girls only column? :) :) :)
 
Of course when spending the night at Cracker Barrel I try to be supportive of them. It’s hard to do but I just had a baked sweet potato with honey and butter and pecans. I had to endure just to support them.

but seriously if I’m staying in a Walmart lot or a Cracker Barrel lot or anybody else’s lot I’ll actually save my receipts from being a customer in case somebody comes by and gives me a pass so I can say look I’m trying to be supportive and thankful. The other day somebody left an awful mess of trash at the Walmart and I went around with my stick that has a grabber on it picking it all up and taking it to the trashcan. I don’t want to be deceptive but I waited until the guy was coming out to collect the cart so I knew I would be seen doing it. I hope that said something good about me to them. If it didn’t it’s still rewarding to pick up trash. Although I’d like to take my stick to the people leave it there. God bless the nomads no matter where they are.
 
Hey NL, this stuff is roaring through my area right now. It's heading SE quick and about to cross the state line neat Tallahasee. If you're in the way down there, batten down the HATCHES!

Cheers and be careful.

Screenshot 2022-02-03 at 18-13-29 NWS Radar.png
 
I am hoping the ground hog did die before NL ate him!

How is Covid affecting Pine Craft area?
 
I’ve heard very little news of any sickness in Pine craft. If people are getting sick no one’s talking about it. Many That I have met are like me and had it last year. It’s not even a real topic of discussion among our people much and there’s only one lady i’ve seen wearing a mask. Answer is I really don’t know what Covid is doing in our area at all, but there are no obvious signs of a problem. This community could quickly become a super spreader because there are people here from at least A dozen different states And a few provinces of Canada. Most of them are riding buses to and from the various states with 30 or 40 people in each bus.????
 
I am lonely the last activity on this thread was Thursday and now it’s Sunday. How is everybody? I am still in Florida last night was a Walmart night. And I had a very lazy morning because it’s totally cloudy outside although it’s close to 60°. But not a good time for nature pictures I need a little more light. I am totally re-designing somethings my van, in my head. Whether it becomes reality or not I don’t know yet. Since the accident in June my cabinets are in very bad shape and I have to hold them together with bungee cords. So something has to be done. I have occasionally had a door open up and have canned goods flying all over the van while I’m driving. Oh the fun life of a nomad. i’m told there’s several hundred manatees around the power plant in Tampa for the warm water. I’m checking out whether I can get in to see them at all that might be my next trip. I will be the Sanabel in a week or so. Come back to Pinecrest for a bit and then onto the Everglades. So where are you and how are you.

maki2- I hope I didn’t offend you with my joking around about “Nuggies“ And the ladies only fourm. I wanted to be on the humor side and not on the harassment side of that. Some people are sensitive and I have missing that item from my brain. I just like to have fun. I even enjoy when people laugh at me. At least they’re having fun.

There’s only so much of living with myself I can stand. I guess I don’t have to wonder why my wife left me. I would be enjoying this life so much more if I had her with me.

God bless the nomads and keep us from being lonely.
 
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Mounting a 2”x 2” and installing two or three dowels near the outside edge so a milk crate sits over the dowels and on the ledge formed by the 2”x 2” allows you to secure it to the wall through the handle hole with a twist latch or large eye bolt. I just use a couple pieces of wood with a screw into a rail at the exact location so it has to be turned so the milk crate can tilt forward at the top and be raised up off the dowels in the ledge formed by the 2”x 2”. Cheap and easy plus you can see what you have without opening any doors.
 
Lord NL. I'm sorry! I thought I had posted you a line Friday. How's it going this evening? I thought you'd be at Sanibel by now snapping away and beachcombing. Did you get your travlin money? How bad was that accident anyway? How are you eating? Try to eat enough to stay strong enough to deal with all this. Are you keeping up with your meds? DON'T skip them. What are you planning to do down in the Glades? Try and avoid getting too close to the water's edge down there (or anywhere in S. Fl. Gators will rear up in a sec if they see a shot (I've seen it happen at a pond at the Hurlburt Field AFB GOLF COURSE.

I'll check in with you again tomorrow.

Stay safe.

J
 
Now nature lover, you must have me mixed up with someone else, maybe one of those Au- natural Nature Lovers in the Magic Circle area of the Quartzsite BLM LTVA area. I have lots of layers of warm clothes to wear on cold days.

I can't recall ever in my whole life as referring to those particular body parts as noogies. You are unfortunately or perhaps fortunately sufferring from either a case of mistaken identification or wishfull thinking :)
 
It’s probably wishful thinking. As a young man girls and women were all I could think about; now as an old man alI I can do is think about them. (If you didn’t notice the difference in the wording there look again) I could’ve sworn somebody said something about freezing their Nuggies off. I guess I’m nuts (That might be the wrong word). I went back and read the posts and I couldn’t find it anywhere. Perhaps I was dreaming.

The ex-wife called me today. What a surprise she was nice and kind asking all sorts of questions telling me all sorts of things about her life. I enjoy hearing from her because I still love her. But I don’t enjoy hearing from her because I still love her. She actually complained that I hadn’t called her or written to her lately. I mean she’s the one who got the divorce not me, I’m confused.

Another Walmart night tonight, rebuilding cabinets tomorrow, and then I hope Sanibel is coming if there’s good weather come Thursday or Friday. I enjoyed today at the Audubon Center here in Sarasota. I got two life birds to add to my list. I saw the yellow headed blackbird and The bronze cow bird. Also got good shots of the painted bunting. We had three males and two females at the feeders. I’ve been having trouble trying to download the pictures to my iPad where I can edit them. It’s not so bad learning technology, it’s relearning it after I forgot it that causes the problem. Oh getting old is wonderful.

God bless the nomads especially those of us who are old and forgetful.
 
Hello old friends, and new ones (if you want to come aboard.) I miss one particular thread from our old forum. That was travel around‘s 24 /7 Chat. Or some type of title like that. But a bunch of us kept in touch with each other and I enjoyed that forum thread before I looked at any other. So although I’m ignorant of a lot of things at this new forum format i’m going to try here to resurrect a bit of that. So if you were on that thread before welcome back and if you were never on that thread before welcome aboard. Friendly conversations and insignificant information about who we are and where we are and what we are doing what we like and what we don’t like and all that kind of stuff. By the way my shaking from the brain tumor does not allow me to type well so I dictate this and that brings about some screwed up words and some repeating etc., so if it’s screwed up I’ll blame it on the dictation because I never make a mistake.😇

to start it off I’m gonna add a couple of nature pictures I’ve been taking a few again here in Florida. I’ve been in Florida now for three weeks and a half weeks. Right now in southern Florida it’s raining and the lows at night or under 40°. That bothered me until I called home to Pennsylvania and found out that their nightly lows are in the single digits. So I’m staying in Florida. When the sun is shining I’m out in nature centers and state parks in Audubon centers taking pictures mainly of birds at this time. So here are a few. The first one is a roseate spoonbill with a beautiful reflection in the water. Then there’s a butterfly never saw before called the white peacock. Florida is one of its northern ranges. And then there’s the popular sandhill crane. Down here in Florida they make a big deal out of protecting this bird they put up signs to protect it, charge people fines if they mess with it etc. yet there are 17 states in United States where it is a game bird gamebird and I understand it’s very delicious..

hello nature lover~ thank you for this post. i love your photos. i, too, am in florida. i arrived here 7 months ago and am currently in west central florida, just above tampa. i am slowly learning the lay of the land and discovering new things about the state. it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance via this post :))
 
hello nature lover~ thank you for this post. i love your photos. i, too, am in florida. i arrived here 7 months ago and am currently in west central florida, just above tampa. i am slowly learning the lay of the land and discovering new things about the state. it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance via this post :))
Hello 2TU808. Yes I’m in Florida I’m south of you in Pine craft which is a little division of the city of Sarasota. I’ve been around taking nature pictures mainly birds for the last few weeks and I plan to be here through May so I can see the spring wildflowers then it’s back up north where the weathers reasonable and “hurricanes hardly ever happen”. I do want to come up towards Tampa because of the manatees that are up in the water at the electric plant. They’re pretty smart animals looking for the warm water. God bless the nomads each and everyone of them.
 
Another cracker barrel night last night. And of course I am forced to eat at Cracker Barrel when I stay there because it’s the right thing to do. :) :) If you have a try to get in try their new cheesecake French toast which is immersed in wonderful strawberry syrup. Take two people on order one serving. It’s addicting. But at least you’ll get a free parking space out of it for the night.
Another Cracker Barrel night last night. And of course I am forced to eat at Cracker Barrel when I stay there because it’s the right thing to do. :) :) If you have an opportunity to get in try their new cheesecake French toast, immersed in wonderful strawberry syrup. Take two people on order one serving. It’s addicting. But at least you’ll get a free parking space out of it for the night.
today is the worst day of my schedule, laundry day. It’s not scheduled but it Has to come the day I wear my last shirt and pants for the second time. So I’m sitting here in smelly clothes washing everything else I own. It’s almost time to fold and I hate that worse than anything. Yes I was spoiled when the wife did most of it. Also spoiled by the big wash line at home we had a line that was on a pully. And whet high the air To drive fast and get a great fresh smell.

Drizzling rain here in Sarasota today low around 50, high around 60, not the type of Sarasota weather I’m used to but what I hear when I call home to Pennsylvania I don’t wanna go back. Supposed to be for five days of mostly sunny in highs in the upper 60s. More like it.

God bless the nomads especially on laundry Day.
 
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Well Nature Lover... sounds like your doing well. Been kinda busy runnin all over the place to get on here. Left Vanaid a couple days to camp with a friend. Typical friend... hey Ben, just drop everything and fit into my schedule. Haha. Like I have one. Haha! Back to Vanaid tomorrow... wish you could have been here. We’d have got your van souped up like a hot rod! You’d be styling!
 
Hey NL. Too bad about the rain. It's been gorgeous here for a couple days but we've got some wet stuff coming in. I've been to Cracker barrel more than a few times and I know they have an extensive menu, but I keep ordering the same thing! The Chicken Fried Steak! Doesn't matter what meal it is. It's either the dinner or breakfast version EVERYTIME. Gotta make it a point to try something else I suppose. Get your wash done? I'm the same as you. It's the folding that bores the heck out of me, but I like clean clothes so what can ya do? Stay safe and let us know when you head out.

Cheers!

J
 
They Really need the rain down here. The rivers and creeks are low and the grass is brown in some places. So I’m not complaining too much about the rain it just makes it damp when it’s cold and the two together aren’t fun for van dwellers. I did buy a little buddy but it makes so much condensation that it’s not worth it unless I’m almost freezing. I’m doing good now. If it gets too cold I still have my great grandmothers 100+ year old solid wool blanket. Ain’t no way to get cold with that thing unless you’re already dead before they put it over you. I’ll be doing some more birdwatching tomorrow around Sarasota area.
 
When are you getting underway?
 
When are you getting underway?
JDub- that’s a good question. But one of the best things about being a nomad is that you can make your own schedule and change it whenever you want. I have not been wise with money in the last few days I’ve got to stop spending so much and I’m going to evaluate that and the fact that some guests are coming down from Pennsylvania in a week or so to determine when I move onto Sanibel. I’m also waiting for my handicap free admission permit for the national wildlife refuges which will save me a few bucks on Sanibel. Maybe that’s all just an excuse for being a procrastinator but I do like the freedom of doing what I want when I want.
 
Hey NL. Still there in Sarasota? How's the weather? Nothing wrong with procrastination when you've got nothing pressing to do and all day to do it!

Chhers!
 
Aloha NL. When I’m places where moisture is a problem, I use the DampRid bags that hang up. It’s surprising how fast they can absorb water from the air. I’d rather use my Buddy with a wide open window and a fan than stay damp-cold.
 
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