January 22, 2001, Monday-it felt good to get back into our "space" in Naples. Between mail, phone, and a few too many errands, the day was gone. Started reading "Inside the Hurricane" and the opening page described the Honduras island of Guanaja. Our whole family vacationed there in 1989-90. In the first two pages the island was hit by a class 5 hurricane in 1998. It's not often that you get the feeling…..that you've been to a special place and can't imagine how the 10,000 people could find anyplace safe to hide on the small island.

January 23, 2001, Tuesday- at 7:30 this morning I finally got to meet Larry (our friends from Marco Island that we had met in Banff), and do some homebuilding. Habitat for Humanity is building 30 homes about 5 miles from here, and today Larry and Larry, or is it Darrell and Darrell?, got to hang and install 12 kitchen and bathroom cabinets and countertops. Quite an ambitious project for the local group, but they have between 20 and 80 volunteers each day. In no time a home is built. Subcontracting for the concrete, plastering, electrical and plumbing. All the rest is homegrown labor. Larry knew a lot of things on the proper way to do the installations, and it felt good to give back to the community…..

 

KITCHEN CABINETS WAITING FOR US!	NEW CABINETS INSTALLED

Dinner was with Bob and Elaine at their place….always a good time.

January 24, 2001, Tuesday- Our washer/dryer man finally arrived this morning and replaced the door switch. A bad one prevents the power down the line from going to the right places.

An hour and a half of tennis provided some needed exercise….then over to the Marco Jewish Center for a dinner and jazz concert performed by 30 members of the local high school. They were wonderful playing big band jazz and other popular tunes. Two hundred were in attendance.

Returned home, or should I say almost home, and the road was being blocked by the highway patrol and local sheriff's department personnel. Apparently an auto accident took two lives, and they were searching, under a criminal investigation, for someone that ran from the scene and was hiding in the woods. Fortunately we backtracked two miles and took a back road. Maybe on the news later we will find out what happened

After heating some water in the microwave oven, it went south and is inoperable…..is this a replacement of the washer/dryer problems?

January 25, 2001, Thursday- called the microwave people, Sharp, and got two local repair places…..our warrantee is for in house repairs, but the two shops said you remove it and you bring it in to us or no service…Sorry! I called Sharp and they are supposed to get back to us as to "full" service. Since it's, I believe, just a door switch because the inside light won't go out and the start button isn't working, that repair can be done without removing the unit.

Also, I called Fleetwood regarding the washer/dryer repair and the installation of the waste line, and Scott later called me back thanking me for bringing the production problem to his attention. And, if we don't hear from Sharp by tomorrow, call him and he'll pressure his suppliers.

We headed across Alligator Alley and halfway across the state, the traffic was stopped in the opposite direction. An emergency helicopter was loading people into the chopper, and all kinds of emergency equipment were present. Fortunately for us, our traffic only slowed.

Checked the web and the newspaper in Naples…..no story about last night's search or accident.

Looked with Mom at 5 different stores for an entertainment/computer table for the den, but haven't found the right piece.

January 26, 2001, Friday- woke up to hear about the 7.9 earthquake in India, where thousands have been confirmed dead, many more missing, and over 100 high rise buildings toppled. Scary….this was the same city that Steve and Becky were in just a week ago. Whew!

Finally found a computer/tv stand that works well in Mom's living room. It only took about 10 stores to find, not only the right one, but the only one that fit the bill.

Called Sharp again on the microwave. Monday Sear's home repairs will be at the coach, and hopefully, with the parts. This is much better then me pulling the unit out, taking it to the repair facility, and it sitting for two weeks on their repair bench.

A great treat tonight - dinner with Mom and Elaine, always special, but add Bob and Mary, Elaine's son and daughter-in-law that we haven't seen in 27 years. Again, it was just like picking up where we left off a few years before. It's amazing how that works with some people. Naturally dinner was too short to cover everything and everybody….but we sure did give it a try.

 

SEATED: ELAINE, MARY AND BETH STANDING: BOB, MOM, SUSAN AND LARRY

Then, 2 hours back to Naples.

January 27, 2001, Saturday- finally the weather was better then just acceptable. Sunny and low 70's without strong winds…..delightful.

Bill and Cynthia came over for the afternoon, and after a tour of our coach, we all headed to Lois and Jerry's for a light lunch. Then a two hour walk along the galleries of 5th Avenue, and north and south along the beach. Dinner was at the Mangrove Café….a wonderful place with atmosphere and great food. Reasonably priced first class!

A BEAUTIFUL 1939 ROLLS ALONG THE BEACH	THE PELICAN ALWAYS LOOKING FOR FRESH FOOD

 

Heard that the flavor of McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and their fries are enhanced by natural ingredients. What they are is……beef. Now you know the rest of the story. Also, the chicken nuggets have twice the fat grams of the hamburgers. Wow! I think I'll have a salad, thank you.

Bad news from Robert today. He is making $500 too much on an annual basis to permit a continued deferral of his medical school loan repayments. So, the government, in it's infinite wisdom, now requires $1400 per month in payment. Does this make sense if you have $500 extra per year? No way!

January 28, 2001, Sunday- a day of rest? No way. After a few walking laps around the park, we hit the tennis racquet for almost two hours. Final score 10-8, a long match.

Jerry and Lois had an open house today for their many friends and coworkers. We helped them with the 50 or so folks, all nice people, that came and went during the two hours. Afterwards, our last game of Euchre. It was too bad that the women won, again.

Oh, for some folks, this was Superbowl Sunday. Ho hum!

January 29, 2001, Monday- Sear's showed up at noon to fix the microwave. Bad news is that they don't have any Sharp parts with him. Good news was that the door switch just needed some adjustment to make the proper contact. Back in business.

After an hour and a half of tennis, we grilled some great lamb chops on the BarB, and caught the Kevin Costner picture "13 Days". A great movie about the Cuban missile crisis. I didn't realize how close to war we really had come. Very well done (if you forgive Costner's bad Boston accent).

Congratulations to Deb. Today she completed her Oral's towards her PHD program. One more step behind her. Now only 2.5 more years to go!

January 30, 2001, Tuesday- early to rise and get over to the Habitat for Humanity job site. Today Larry and I finished the counter tops from last week, and then hung the two entry doors at another home. Again it felt good to give some time to the community. Afterwards, a so-long to Jerry and Lois as they head toward Colorado shortly…..our six weeks together were great, but went too quickly.

January 31, 2001, Wednesday- finally perfect Florida weather. No wind, low 80's, sunny. So, we joined Hank and Linda, Dick and Judy and Ray and Jeanette for lunch on the Isle of Capri in Nick's Backwater Restaurant. Perfect under the canopy with views over the water.

 

LINDA, HANK, DICK AND JUDY	LARRY, RAY, JEANETTE AND SUSAN

This morning I installed, in one of the exhaust fans, a new switch supplied by the Fantastic Fan Company. Now the fan can either exhaust, like it did, or reverse and blow into the coach. It should help us keep the dust out during dirt road driving, like in Alaska, by pressuring the coach and blowing out the small openings by the slide area.