We had a lot to get done yesterday, and accomplished very little of it. Some days are just like that, I guess.

We had quite a bit of stuff that we had been carrying around in the van that we decided had to go away, so I loaded it into the Explorer to drop off at a Goodwill or Salvation Army. It’s amazing what you discover that you had forgotten you own!

A little after noon we drove back to the car dealer in Winter Haven, where we bought the Explorer, to pick up the the SMI auxiliary brake that they had agreed to disconnect from the van, and to drop off the van’s title, which we had forgotten the day before. Along the way, we stopped at a Salvation Army store and unloaded the items we had to donate.

We had noticed a squealing noise coming from the Explorer, that I suspected was a fan belt or something like that. It wasn’t a big deal, just irritating. So I asked their service department to take a look, and they decided that a serpentine belt and a pulley were glazed, which was causing the noise.

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They pulled the vehicle into the shop to change them, and said it would take  a couple of hours to get the parts and do the job. Okay, we were there, they were paying for it under warranty, so we’d get it out of the way.

Well, we all know that no job ever gets done in the time allocated, right? The two hours stretched out to almost three before they were done, but they did a good job. This was supposed to be a quick trip, so I had not taken my iPad with me, so I spent the time reading old magazines about topics I had no interest in, while Miss Terry, always better prepared, had a book to read.

We needed to find a Fed Ex drop box to send the loan paperwork back to Alliant Credit Union, and we thought we had seen one in a shopping center we would pass on the way out of town. As it turned out, we were wrong, so we stopped at a hotel to ask if they knew of one nearby. They didn’t.

Again, if I had my iPad, I could have gone online and found one quickly, but we figured we’d pass a Staples or Office Depot, which usually does Fed Ex shipping. No such luck.

Miss Terry was driving, so I got online with my Droid Incredible and looked up Fed Ex, called them, and they gave me the location of the nearest Fed Ex drop box. Isn’t technology a wonderful thing? I entered the address into our Garmin GPS, which directed us a mile north, only to then tell us to make a U-turn and drive two miles back south to the drop box! Isn’t technology a wonderful thing?

Eventually we found the drop box, deposited the envelope, and headed back to the Thousand Trails campground. We stopped along the way for a bite to eat, made a stop at Lowes, and got back to our motorhome just after dark.

We’re due to leave here tomorrow, and we still have to pack the Explorer, get our hard kayaks onto the roof, and get some other chores done. All the stuff we had planned to accomplish yesterday!

Thought For The Day – Friendship isn’t a big thing, it’s a million little things.

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I feel like I’m wading in waist deep muck. I have so much I need to get done, but it’s like every step I try to take forward takes forever to accomplish, and I keep falling further and further behind.

Part of it is that I feel like I have hit an emotional and physical wall. I can’t concentrate, my brain feels fuzzy, I’m grouchy and irritable, and I’m worn out. All I want to do is lie down and take about a 36 hour nap. I know that it’s all a delayed stress reaction to recent events, and I’ll work through it. I just needed to snivel. Okay, enough of that.

Yesterday we had a lot of running around to get done. Our first stop was at the post office in Summerdale to mail off a bunch of orders, and then we went to Camping World in Robertsdale, where I picked up a written estimate to have our rooftop automatic TV dish replaced. Among the other things that happened during the burglary was that he (or they) ripped out the control box for the rooftop dish and the Dish Network receiver, threw them on the floor and stomped on them. Since Winegard no longer makes our model of dish or supports it and no replacement parts are available, we have to get a new one.

While we were at Camping World, we picked up a folding aluminum outside step with a 1,000 pound capacity for times when the distance between the ground and the step of the Winnebago is too much for our stubby little legs.

Terry also found a small oak  footstool to put under her feet when  we’re traveling to make it more comfortable for her. The top raises to give access to a small storage area for items like remote controls and such, Just what I need, one more place to lose my remote control!

We then had to run over to Daphne, on Mobile Bay, to pick up some items at Sam’s Club, and while we were in the area, we stopped at the Bass Pro Shop at Spanish Fort. Terry wants a pair of fuzzy moccasin style slippers from Minnetonka or TeePee for Christmas, and I was hoping we could find some there, but they didn’t have what she wanted.   

We also went to an Office Depot to make copies of paperwork for the insurance company and faxed that to them. If you have ever wanted to be a crook for a living but are to afraid of going to jail, I think you should just open an insurance company. It’s like a license to steal. We have paid thousands of dollars in premiums over the years and never had a claim, but now that we need them, we are getting one runaround after another. One person tells you one thing and the next person contradicts the first one, things one tells us are covered the next one says are not, and “total replacement coverage” and “disappearing deductibles” are all bull$&@! when it comes time to pay off.

By the time we got all of that done, it was after 4 p.m. and we were getting hungry. I had spotted a Chinese buffet in a shopping center across the street from the Office Depot, and asked the clerk who sent our faxes if it was any good. She said she didn’t like Chinese, so couldn’t tell me, but one of her co-workers spoke up and said it was her family’s favorite Chinese restaurant, and that her sister drove all the way to Daphne from the far west side of Mobile to go there at least twice a month, so that was good enough for me. We adjourned to the Grand Buffet for dinner, and while I wouldn’t put it up in my Top 5 list of Chinese buffets, it was pretty darned good.

Back at the campground, I answered some e-mails that came in during the day, fiddled with the satellite and Dish receiver hoping against hope I could get them to work, and finally gave up in frustration. I know a lot of folks say that they don’t care much for TV, but I do. There are a few regular programs we watch regularly, and I am a news hound so I miss the daily news broadcasts and a lot of good documentaries on A&E, the History Channel, and such. Tomorrow I may drag out my old tripod dish and see if I can get any kind of a signal off that.

Of course, nothing stops Bad Nick. He has a new blog post titled Welcome Home, Sisters. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – There is great need for a sarcasm font.

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