Going On The Road with Monte & Rose

December 15-21, 2014

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

Monday-I guiltily stayed in bed when Monte left for work at 8AM. I had all good intentions for getting chores done during the day but other than getting caught up on my blog entries I didn’t do much of anything.

Tuesday-

Removed mower disc from brushbull cutter.

Next I had to remove the cutter blades.

After sharpening I reinstalled the blades back onto the mower disc.

The blades are about worn out, good for one more cutting cycle.

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In the late afternoon we took a ride to Sam’s Club and Walmart to pick up a few grocery items. I also picked up a couple of lottery tickets--

Wednesday-Monte put in a full day of work (8AM to 4PM) with a short lunch break-

Thursday-

The tractor needed a good service and had to repair a

few problems from heavy use.

I removed all the covers from both sides of the engine and cleaned

and replaced the diesel fuel filter, adjusted the transmission clutch

and repaired the gas throttle cable.

The emergency flashers also had to be repaired.

Everything is now working and I finished up the service on the tractor.

I took a long walk in the park starting down the road leading to the maintenance area and our volunteer village.

This area had a controlled burn just a few months ago. I was amazed at the extent of new growth.

Walking towards the campground I detoured to the trailhead parking area.

This barrier fence blocking entry to the old canoe launch steps is new since we left back at the beginning of August.

This trail connects the trailhead parking lot the picnic area.

Deer tracks.

The Oxbow Nature Trail is a short loop.

The trail exits by pavilion 3.

There are a few options when exiting the trail. I chose to walk past the restroom towards the picnic area.

When I returned Monte was just finishing up work on the tractor.

In the early evening we attended a Holiday Concert at our grandson Timmy’s school. We were treated to a medley of holiday songs-the kids were great.

Tim, Melissa & Timmy

Friday-Monte has been complaining about his vision for quite some time now. He also was concerned because he has had a stye for a couple of weeks that is still sore and he is also experiencing frequent headaches. So I have been nagging him to make an appointment with an ophthalmologist. I guess he was tired of me nagging him because he finally called a nearby eye doctor and was actually given an appointment immediately.

The doctor said the stye is healing nicely. Monte made an appointment for next week to get a complete eye exam.

After the appointment we took a walk through a nearby Kmart. Monte bought a couple of things but I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without.

But I was surprised to see a 5 lb box of chocolates for $19.99. I wonder if it will go on sale for 50% off the day after Christmas.

Saturday-We had a little over an hour drive down to the North Port area for an 11:00AM brunch at the home of good friends of my parents’, Wolfi and Helen. The house was beautifully decorated for the holidays.