SSP friendly hours

Hard to believe it is February already. It is especially hard to believe when the weather is so balmy. When the weather forecast is for a cold front we just laugh and tell them 45 degree morning temp is not a cold front. But it is all relative. We do enjoy the warmth!

I have told you before that the hours we work are really friendly to SSP's. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that term it is Social Security People. I think in the past we used it rather sarcastically but surprising how your perspective changes when you fit that category yourself. I remember on vacations and other places when we had little kids along that SSPs always thought they had to have the front row of everything. We try to remember that now when we think we need special treatment because we may not cross this way again and don't want to miss a single thing.

Our Jan. project ended on Tuesday afternoon so we had the rest of the week to ourselves. One day we went down to Key Largo. The trip isn't really anything but swamp and wild growth. Homestead and cities like Key Largo was more touristy and fun. We took a 2 hour glass bottom boat ride into the Atlantic to the Coral Reef. The picture above was taken on the boat. The weather was in the 80's when we were on the boat but dropped at least 20 degrees less then an hour after we got back. The Coral Reef was very interesting and a Naturalist gave a running account of the various fish we saw and described how the Reef was formed. It was interesting. I took several pictures but they look just like a glass bottom boat with the Reef poorly visible and the fish non-existant at all, therefore, no pictures.

On the way out of the bay into the Ocean we passed fantastically fancy and expensive houses and yachts. We wondered why that was all necessary when we are so content in a 8X36 foot RV. I know we couldn't possibly live their lifestyle in our RV but I question why they NEED all that space. I guess some of the CEOs and financial managers and other big wigs we hear about getting their millions in bonuses are inhabiting the houses and cruising around in their yachts entertaining other big shots who get big bonuses. We did enjoy looking and speculating what their life style, value system and enjoyment level really is. Probably have a housekeeper from some distant land who is here with an illegal permit as well. So much for sarcasm! Enough already.

Wednesday afternoon we drove to Miami Airport so we could spend a little time with Brian. He was flying in for a couple of days of meetings with the UBS. He knew his good friend, Bob Bascum, was was flying in from LA at approximately the same time so he arranged for us to meet him. He has a PHD in linguistics so you can imagine their affinity. We had a great time over a dinner of barbecued ribs and great conversation. It was so interesting to hear Brian and Bob talk "shop", it was a depth of linguistics we don't normally hear, probably because we could not enter into that kind of conversation and understand it. After dinner we went to the motel they were staying in so Bob could get settled in and we could talk just a little longer with Brian. Great experience. Any one else wandering in this area this winter? We would love to have you! The picture is a little dark but I think you can make out who they are anyway. The ribs were excellent, Dad's favorite meat I think.

We start a new project at this same place on Monday and will finish it on Feb. 24. I am anxious to get back into the classroom and even more anxious to interact with the kids again. It is good to hear a little voice from the playground shout, "hi Miss Marilyn" Our RV is parked right beside the playground so they keep close watch on us. One little boy asked if we lived in that truck house. Yes we do.

We usually do our walking around here but it is not safe for one alone or even two at non-working hours so we often end up walking at a mall. What a burden, right? It is a fun place to walk but not to buy. One example I was just browsing around and came into a Coach purse store. Looking at what we always look at first, the price tag, I couldn't believe my eyes but it was $495.00. So, of course, I had to show that to Dad and impress on him how my tastes were really pretty modest since I didn't think even for a second about getting the purse.

With all this fantastic picture opportunities around here I started looking at a camera that could do a little more than ours can. Spent considerable time at Best Buy getting an education from 3 different sales people. The first one must have said 6 times that we should stick to a basic one because the others would take a lot of learning. Evidently he didn't think we were up to the challenge. We probably aren't but will figure that out for ourselves. See, being an SSP isn't all fun and games. We did get a lot of information for us to process and help us make a decision.

So good to get the phone calls and emails.

Love you all and appreciate being kept in the "know" of your families.

Dad and Mom