Dade City
I’m in Dade City for my last build of the year. It’s just an hour from Ocala, so I’ll
probably come down once a week and build with them as a local volunteer. The campground is actually a field in a
neighborhood. There were houses here
once, but they came down and a Habitat neighborhood was built. This affiliate gets most of their work done
in the winter, by Care-A-Vanners. They have
6-8 spaces and they are full during the winter months. We spent the 3 weeks I was here building a
house with 2 showers, a kitchen and laundry room for the RVers. The front of the house has one large room
that will be used by a local volunteer to live in. They actually have a pretty nice set up here,
the house will have a pavilion out back and they have a large BBQ/picnic area
overlooking a pond that is home to a lot of different birds. Once this house is done, they will remove
several sheds and double the camping spaces.
One side will be for several permanent winter residents , including 2
very nice snow birds from Canada. The other
side will be for the 2 week Care-A-Vanners.
The crew here is great, as are all the Habitat people I’ve
worked with. The office staff took us
out to dinner one night, it was nice to meet them as well. Usually we only get to know the construction
crew. This was a small CAV build, there
were only 3 of us scheduled. One couple
arrived late the 2nd week due to a family illness and the other
couple left after just 2 days, also due to a family emergency. So it was just me and the locals most of the
time. Unlike most builds, the
construction supervisor and site supervisor were on site every day. Both were great to work with, very patient
and easy going. One volunteer, Henry and
I were assigned the job of building some steps.
With Henry in the lead, it looked pretty easy, so I decided I wanted to
build a set for my RV since I’ll be on one place all winter. They helped me with that, providing not only
the scrap wood, but showing me how to do it.
The set I built were a bit different than the one Henry and I did; mine
had fewer pieces. I wanted as simple as
possible since I would be taking them apart and storing them in my storage unit
when I leave in the spring.
Gordon and Marie, from the Massachusetts build, have a house
in the next town over, so they came out to the site one day. Gordon said he may come work once a week
after the holidays. It would be fun to
work with him again, and I know he’d fit right in with the other locals. I went out to their place for dinner and met
some friends of theirs. It was a very
nice evening. Turns out, he lives one
street over from Henry. He’s a really
sweet man, I wanted to stop in and say hi, but I forgot all about it till I was
half way home.
I noticed a little Papillion wandering around the
neighborhood. I figured she belonged to
one of the houses around here, but a neighbor said she had been dumped about a month
ago, so I decided to adopt her. She is a
very sweet little dog, who was infested with fleas. I had to take Brutus to the vet, he hurt his
leg somehow. They checked him out and
gave him some anti inflammatory and also gave me some potent flea killer for
the new dog, who I decided to call Lexi.
She is about a year old, very well behaved, except sometimes she likes
to dig in the clothes hamper and chew up my underwear. After a bath and the meds, she looked like a
new dog. Sammie the cat is none too
thrilled, but she seems to be resigned to having another dog.
On the weekends I went back to Ocala and hiked with my new
friends. We continued working our way
along the trail in segments. Since I spent
the summer hiking in New England, I was more used to rock climbing than hiking
long distances, so I chose the shortest distance, usually 5-7 miles. Each hike offers a long hike with a half way
bail out at a different trail head. Those
of us choosing the short hike would park there then be picked up by the long
distance hikers and carpool to the starting location. I was
pretty sure I could do the 10-12 miles but why push it? My knee had not gotten
any better and I didn’t want to slow the group down. On the last hike though, most of the people
were doing the long hike and they needed one more vehicle. I thought no problem, I’m up for it. Usually the hikers have been experienced and
maintain a pretty good pace. This time,
however, we were joined by a woman who should not have attempted such a long
hike. On the one hand, you want to get
more people involved in the outdoors and show people that these hikes are
doable and fun. On the other hand, there
is a certain amount of physical ability required. This lady, who was nice as could be, just
slowed everyone down. When hiking with a
group, there is usually a sweeper, someone who brings up the rear and makes
sure no one gets left behind. We had to
stop several times to wait for this lady and she was very out of breath each
time her and the sweeper caught up to us.
You could tell she was really struggling. At one point, we got to a road and convinced
her to have her husband come pick her up.
The problem was, he was riding his bike on another trail and was at
least an hour away. As luck would have it,
we had run into a biker who was just finishing up and agreed to give this lady
a ride the where her husband was. I know
the group was a little disappointed about having to slow down for her, so I decided
to take the bail out, so as not to slow them down any more since my knee was
starting to bother me. A guy also taking
the shorter hike agreed to take me to the other trailhead to get my truck. He was a pleasant guy and we were soon
chatting away. Imagine my shock when he
pulled into the wrong trailhead! I said I’m
sooo sorry, I don’t know the area and didn’t realize he was going to the wrong
trailhead. I though he knew which one my
truck was parked at, so I never even thought to question him. So we turned around and went back the way we
had come. He seemed really nice about it,
bless his heart! I hope I can return the
favor on the next hike.
I finally got an appointment with an orthopedist. After some x-rays, she said the problems with
my knee was just arthritis. I must admit
after getting back on Mobic (an anti inflammatory) and another series of
Supartz injections (joint lubricant), it feels so much better.
I took some pictures of the build and was shocked to see a
picture of myself, I just couldn’t believe how big I’ve gotten! I know I gained back some of the weight I lost,
but OMG I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
To be honest, I had noticed my clothes weren’t fitting as well, but to
actually see a picture of myself was all the kick in the ass I needed. Again….
Since then, I’ve gotten back on track with more healthy eating. Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy the pecan
pie for Thanksgiving, but after two pieces, I am proud to say I threw the rest
of it in the dumpster. I absolutely hate
the constant struggle with my weight, but all I can do is take it one day at a
time.
For Thanksgiving the dogs and I went to my Mom’s in
Kissimmee. I got there Wed afternoon and
decided to drop the dogs off and go run some errands. Apparently underwear is not the only thing
Lexi likes to chew, she completely tore all the stuffing out of Max’s bed. That’s my mom’s Westie, he’s about 20 lbs and
build like a tank. It didn’t seem to
bother him at all, he promptly stuffed himself in Brutus’s very small bed and
went to sleep.
Lexi is a little bigger than Brutus and usually jumps up on
the chair to sleep. But apparently she
saw Brutus and Sammie’s little nests in the drawer to the couch and decided she
would try it out too. Well, she got
stuck. I came home one day and Brutus
crawled right out, but Lexi was wedged in and needed to be rescued. Since then she seems content to curl up in my
chair. So now, when I get up, I have her
and the cat fighting for my seat. And when
I sit down, I have all 3 of them trying to sit in my lap. Ah it’s good to be loved!
I was eventually joined by other Care-A-Vanners, and much to
my delight, Marlene was one of them. She
was on the West Liberty build and I was so happy to catch up with her and be
able to work with her again. Unfortunately, she is only here for 2 weeks, but
is going to try and join me next year in Tuscaloosa. I hope it works out, she is a sweet lady!
Comments
Post a Comment