Better Days

Yes, we are seeing better days, or at least it feels that way! Problem updates:
1. The truck has been diagnosed, valve lifter and camshaft need repairs, Ford warranty has approved the work, and the repairs are underway. Langdale Ford in Valdosta GA has been great to work with, and gone the extra mile for us so far. The warranty only approved replacing the one bad valve lifter and the camshaft, and we opted at our expense, while the engine is torn down, to have the other valve lifters replaced as well. We figured it made sense.
2. The transport company delivered the Cougar to the Keystone factory Thursday, before the snow and ice started up there. They've already taken it into the repair shop, ordered the new wall, and have talked to us about a few other items. So far, I am very pleased with the customer service at Keystone :-).
3. The antibiotics are clearing up the infection in my mouth, and I should be ready for my cavities to be filled on Wednesday...not fun, but neither is achy teeth!

I finally went through the few pictures I had taken at Walt Disney World (oh, yes, I sent my Coolpix camera to Nikon to see if it can be repaired, and yes, it can, yay!) and thought I would show you a couple pictures of the new Fantasyland area, and the Beast's Castle where we had our marvelous French dinner.

The entrance to The Beast's castle, across the moat, with the castle turrets above

Entering the massive front doors

Beautiful mosaics reminiscent of the mosaics at Cinderella's Castle

The napkins were roses, naturally! No pictures of dinner, it was just too dark while dining, and the food was so yummy I simply forgot :-).

The statue of Gaston and LeFou at the entrance to Gaston's Tavern, a quick service eatery. Must try the giant warm cinnamon rolls next time we're there!

Prince Eric's castle, from The Little Mermaid, which houses an Ariel ride...line was too long, so we'll try that one a different trip.

Our last day was spent at Fort Wilderness with the remaining family members...

playing Marbles and Cards, of course! I love the large square picnic tables at Fort Wilderness, perfect for large family gatherings. The sites here in the 1200 loop are so large and roomy, I just love them.

Back home in Homosassa, after our aborted attempt to take the Cougar to Indiana, and straightening out the myriad of issues we had, we had several errands and chores to be done. We did make a little time for some fun stuff,  visiting with friends from back in New York one day at Downtown Disney, and finally went geocaching two different times, receiving our Florida "badge" for our first find in Florida. We collected 8 out of 30 caches that form a cross pattern in the Withlacoochee State Forest, and will return another day to collect more. No pictures from that hike, though, as there was a "prescribed burn" going on somewhere to the south of us, and it was kind of hazy...not too much scenery there anyway. We were doing a bit of "bushwacking" through the forest, so I didn't take the camera out!

We also did a "kayak geocache"; all the caches are along a waterway and you can only get to them via kayak or canoe. We thought that sounded like fun, and got us out kayaking for the afternoon.

Directly across the Homosassa River from the boat launch we saw this funky little fish market...local color!

Ospreys are nesting everywhere in the area

Pelicans and cormorants chilling out on a little rocky island

We turned into Price's Creek heading to our first set of co-ordinates. I found the "shoreline" interesting...its old oysterbeds!

Close-up of oysterbeds, pretty neat

Do you know what he's doing?

Yep, there's a cache hanging in the tree!

Continuing on up Price's Creek...there's a total of 5 caches along the creek. Once we got off the Homosassa River, it was extremely quiet and peaceful, not a soul around...

except this dude...

and this dude...it took me awhile to spot him, but I could definitely hear him drumming away

The scenery back here is very pretty...not jungly, but wide open.There were also several manatees cruising the area, but I was never fast enough to catch a picture of their snouts breaking the water's surface.

After finding all our caches for the afternoon, we headed back to the Homosassa River, and passed this small fleet of boats.

More cormorants striking poses for me

An osprey with his "catch of the day" flew right over us!

Back to the launching ramp, where I will not amuse you with pictures of disembarking the kayaks...is there any graceful way to do that??

That's pretty much all the news from this part of the world at the moment. next week are more appointments and errands, hopefully the truck will be ready to be picked up, a card game is in the works one afternoon, and we continue to do our volunteer thing at the Wildlife Park. Hope everyone out there has a good weekend!