May 2015

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

The month of May, our last at Little Manatee River State Park, was extremely hot.  With the exception of a couple of days, we had the air conditioner running 24/7.

By the beginning of month there was only one other volunteer couple in the compound so the work load had to spread around more than in previous months.  Monte had been putting in the majority of the hours of work because he was mainly doing maintenance where I could offer little assistance.  But when he was assigned to clean the day use areas and campground I went along to help out.

 

 

Some of the duties included putting new trash bags in all the bins in the park, raking the mulch in the playground, cleaning out the restrooms and ashes from the fire rings in the campground.

Despite the heat Monte spent a considerable amount of time doing outside maintenance chores on our rig including waxing it and treating all the seals.

 

Some of Monte’s maintenance chores for the park included repairing and performing routine maintenance on the Dixie chopper as well as all the chain saws, installing equipment on the fire truck

 

 

and repairing a door closer on a rest room that had somehow become detached.

 

 

He also gave a lesson to two of the volunteers on tractor operation.

 

Monte forgot to mention a mask should be used.  Sorry John.

One day Monte accompanied the volunteer coordinator Chris to Alafia State Park to pick up some recycling bins.  When Monte stepped up on the trailer, the rotted wood gave way and he fell through up to his waist.  Luckily he wasn’t seriously hurt and only ended up sore with a few black and blue marks.

This mishap resulted in his last big project for the park-removing and replacing all the rotted wood on the trailer.

Our social life spiked in May as we spent quite a bit of time with John and Darlene, the only other couple remaining in the compound.

  My mom extended an invitation to them on Mother’s Day.  On the way down to my parents’ house we stopped off at Venice Beach. 

 

 

 

 

John and Darlene purchased a new rig-very nice.

 

 

Of course getting a new rig requires taking a ride to Camping World for some new goodies.

  I was very proud of Monte because he managed to walk out of the store empty handed-a first for him.

We were treated to a wonderful dinner by John and Darlene at the Riverhouse in Palmetto. 

 

 

Monte noticed a couple of birds hopping in and out of my chair.

  Upon closer inspection we realized they were building a nest.  Wow-they did this much work in less than an hour. 

 I felt bad about moving the nest but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my chair.

I took one last walk through the park.

Mom and Dad visited a couple of times in the month.

My brother and sister-in-law hosted a surprise birthday party for me.  My birthday is in June so I wasn’t expecting a party in May so I really was surprised.  As a ruse to get me to their house, my brother had invited us for a BBQ and to go swimming.   I almost missed my own party because I wasn’t feeling well and told Monte I was going to call my brother to say we couldn’t make it.  Monte got me to go by laying the guilt trip on me by saying how disappointed my parents would be if I didn’t show up.

In addition to delicious food and great decorations my sister-in-law also made me this awesome tote bag filled with goodies.

John and Darlene surprised me with birthday cupcakes and a bottle of sangria.

My hair was getting to the length where I had to make a decision to allow it to continue growing or get it cut.  I opted to get it cut real short.

The last two days at the park was spent packing up.  There was a lot more to do after being in one place for six months. 

 

Joe, the park manager gave us a nice send off with a cake and ice cream social. 

Our next destination is Werner Boyce Salt Springs State Park in Port Richey.  Werner Boyce is a day use area.  Monte will be working in the maintenance department.  I am not sure what I will be doing. 

We chose this particular park because of its close proximity to the house we still own and rent out.  The house requires some work and we wanted to be near enough to periodically check on the progress.