Winter in Florida!

Here we are in mid-December. And just when I've gotten used to being warm most of the time, I'm heading back to the Great White North for Christmas! At least I'll have better weather to look forward to long before most Canadians (barring those who are fanatic skiers, of course!). I hope to be back just after the new year to continue enjoying my time away from the cold!

I got a head start on feeling cold during my 3-day motorcycle trip to Key West. The temperature at 9:00 AM when we started out was 41 degrees F (5 C)! Ugh! And it rained during most of the return trip with temperatures just over 50 degrees F (10 C). Good practice for dressing warmly - I'll need that skill when I return to Belwood!

It's been a busy month and a half! I'm coordinating the training program for the Nettles Island Computer Club, teaching several classes and I'm computer adviser to the local newspaper, the Nettles Islander (now that the paper has gone online-only, currently just as a PDF, I get to do most of the final assembly). Oh yeah, I also write a computer column for the paper. For a look at my first issue, click here: Nettles Islander November 2010 Issue

Here's an image of the front cover done by our own Nettles Island artist, Sally Sprague.

It's also about time I post some of my recent presentation material for the courses I've been giving. Look for those during the coming weeks (weeks, because I'll be spending much of my time in Belwood making the basement habitable for Willy and me - the bathroom is just about done, but the bedroom needs some serious work to finish drywall and flooring!).

I'll continue with a more detailed account of both the construction activities in Belwood and the "leisure" activities in Jensen Beach!

Another Winter in Florida!

Well, last summer wasn't a big one for communicating! I managed to post all of 1 message on my Blog all summer. But I've got a good excuse! That basement still isn't finished and probably won't be all done until the end of NEXT summer. If even then!

After an uneventful trip to Gaffney to have the motorhome serviced at Freightliner's Custom Chassis home, we continued on to Nettles Island for a late Friday arrival on our lot. Just enough daylight left for the basic set-up tasks. Good thing we still had daylight savings time with us!

More (including some pictures) when I get everything set up.

Summer 2010 in Belwood

We're spending the summer in Belwood on the RV pad beside our daughter and son-in-law's new house. Technically, I guess I should be saying "spent" since summer is already over! A busy summer building a basement apartment for us to call home when we're not living in the motorhome.

Finishing a full basement with walkout is a bit like building a whole bungalow. At 1300 square feet, it's as big as a nice sized bungalow! I won't finish all that work before we head back to Nettles Island at the beginning of November, but I hope to have a bedroom and bathroom ready to accommodate us when we come back for Christmas.

Meanwhile, I keep on slugging away at the insulation and drywall . . . (instead of writing this Blog!)

I've attached a few pictures of our new digs, both outside and inside.

As the walls are going up:


A construction site (and a furniture storage warehouse!):


From the outside:


And the back yard (not hardly finished!):