Barbecued Egg Rolls? What?

Like most people, I love barbecue, especially ribs. So when I find a place that has fantastic, juicy, fall off the bone, ribs, the kind that doesn't really need any added BBQ sauce, I get excited. Yup, I'm addicted to great BBQ. Understandably, I was excited to be returning to Fair Play, SC, so we could get BBQ from The Spotted Pig. We arrived here on Monday but the restaurant is closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It was a long wait until Thursday. 

We had quite a few errands to do on Thursday. We visited the Verizon store to get new phones and upgrade our hotspot plan, which took most of the afternoon, then shopped at Walmart. Finally it was time for supper at The Spotted Pig. One of the feature items on the menu is barbecued egg rolls. Sounds strange but they are absolutely fantastic. They're egg rolls loaded with a variety of smoked pork, beef and chicken, seasoned cabbage and Colby Jack cheese, then deep fried. They're not quite like anything I've ever had, but the kind of thing that brings me back wanting more.

BBQ egg rolls

The Spotted Pig is a unique place with a very unique hand washing area - for after you get your hands all sticky.

This sink is on one wall in the open dining room

If you're ever in the area of Fair Play, SC, stop in at The Spotted Pig. You won't be disappointed, unless you're passing through on Mon., Tues., or Wed.

Don't Mess With My Tools!

Remember I said there wasn't much happening? It was nice not having any drama in our lives for a while. Well, be careful what you say! I didn't mean it as an invitation for life to throw chaos at me.

The past few years we've just closed up the house while we've been away for the winter. But this year we felt we needed to have someone living there to watch over things, and so an empty place wouldn't be a temptation to thieves. That turned out to be very insightful.

There was a bad wind storm Saturday night and the barn roof, the part over the workshop, didn't survive very well. If there wasn't someone there we wouldn't have know about it until we returned in the spring. By that time all the equipment in the workshop would have been damaged from the weather. Folks who know me know that I'm all about my workshop! I wouldn't have been very happy if all my tools, table saw, router, and the like, were all rusted. Don't mess with this woman's tools!

Advance, NC

We spent a week at Forest Lake Preserve, an RV park in Advance (pronounced with the accent on the 1st syllable), NC, where we were able to empty our black and gray water tanks, catch up on the laundry, and organize the stuff that gets tossed into the storage area while on the road. We also discovered a small leak in a roof seal that needed repair. I have to say it was nice to stay put for a while.

The temperatures here have been averaging in the 50s with most nights near or below freezing. But no snow! Like most everywhere, the trees have lost their summer colors, but there's still plenty of beauty. This park has lots of hiking trails, one leading to a large field with more trails branching off that. One trail takes you down along the Yadkin River which has quite a long sand bar. It may be stick season, but I still found it quite beautiful.

Not much is happening, but I did find some interesting things as we traveled out and about investigating the area. We were here last year for a time so we went in an opposite direction this year. 

Wonderful to see this sign in front of a nursing home.

No, this isn't snow, it's a field of cotton.

Here's an interesting property for sale - a real fixer upper! It features a unique, open floor plan (the walls have collapsed), exposed brick, fully exposed beams throughout (the ceilings fell down), lots of skylights (aka holes in the roof) and plenty of windows for light and air (lots and lots of air). An indoor garden conservatory features a fully grown tree (yup, there's a tree growing inside, right up through the roof). Original farmhouse style is ready for your own special touches. Sits on 100 +/- acres of well maintained weeds. With a little (or a lot) TLC this could be the home of your dreams!

Complete with a post and beam style barn!

Very upscale neighborhood, judging by the house next door.

East Hampton, CT

Some of the retirees at the breakfast get together

On Wednesday just before we left, we were able to go to the monthly breakfast gathering of the Hooksett GE retirees. Jim has been to a few over the years but this was my first time. I knew only 2 people there, Ken and Cathy Swenson, who have a summer camp in the north country, not too far from our house. Everyone was welcoming and it's always nice to meet new people. It was especially fun to hear a few stories of Jim's escapades while he was employed at GE.

On Thursday we left from Jim's son's house in the Concord, NH area. Our first stop was to visit friends in E. Hampton, CT. It was a LOT warmer there! We stopped by a garden center which was all decked out for the holidays, selling Christmas trees, wreaths and other decorations. One very nice thing about living in a small space for 4 or 5 months is that there's no room for extras, even though I was surely tempted to buy some decorations. Saves money too!

Paul's and Sandy's Too, East Hampton, CT

We often park our RV for a few nights at people's homes through boondockerswelcome.com which is a network of RVers who offer space for an RV in their driveways, fields, etc, providing a safe place to spend 1 or a few nights. We've hosted many people at our home as well as utilizing this service ourselves while on the road. We've met many wonderful people and made some new friends as well. Like our friends Robert and Carey from East Hampton, CT, who stayed with us last spring and again in the fall. Jim grew up in Milford, CT, so he and Robert had a lot of familiar places to talk about. They invited us to stay with them on our way south this winter.

Carey is a volunteer with vetdogs.org. The dogs begin life being cared for and receive early training, from 8 weeks old, by prison inmates, also spending time with various families for socialization before beginning their "formal" training. Margie is a 14 month old black lab who will spend weekends with Carey and her family for the next 3 months. Carey will socialize her by taking her everywhere so she becomes used to all kinds of situations and people. Margie is as sweet as you could want in any companion and will make someone a wonderful service dog.

Carey, Robert and service dog in training, Margie

This is the explanation of the program from their website:

"The service dog programs of America’s VetDogs® were created to provide enhanced mobility and renewed independence to United States veterans, active-duty service members, and first responders with disabilities, allowing them to once again live with pride and self-reliance. Not only does a service dog provide support with daily activities, it provides the motivation to tackle every day challenges.  

VetDogs trains and places service dogs for those with physical disabilities; guide dogs for individuals who are blind or have low vision; service dogs to help mitigate the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder; and facility dogs as part of the rehabilitation process in military and VA hospitals.

It costs over $50,000 to breed, raise, train, and place one assistance dog; however, all of VetDogs’ services are provided at no charge to the individual. Funding comes from the generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, businesses, and community organizations.

Once they make the decision to get a service dog, applicants become part of VetDogs’ open and welcoming community. Students will come to our 10-acre campus in Smithtown, New York, for our two-week in-residence training program. Classes are kept small to ensure personalized attention for each student and their new dog. Over the course of the time spent with us, the student and dog bond and learn how to work together as a team. They are supported with an uncompromising commitment to excellence, from highly empathetic and certified trainers to a meticulously constructed curriculum."

This is certainly a worthy organization. To find out how you can help, visit their website, then click on "how to help" from the dropdown menu.

We left E Hampton and drove several hours to E. Stroudsburg, PA, where we spent the night at an RV park, Timothy Lake South. Many parks are closed for the winter, but this one happens to be open year round. We were able to empty our tanks and rest up for the night before beginning our journey southward. Next stop - Charles Town, WV.

The Adventure Begins - Again

With a pretty much uneventful summer behind us, autumn was a busy time getting ready to leave. The sheep and goats that were visitors during the summer months went home. They were here to keep the pastures mowed and the brush from taking over. We had lots of small projects to get the house and RV ready for the winter.

One of the projects was getting the new security system activated. The system we used last year quit working several months before we returned home and the security company never notified us it wasn't working, although they still collected their monthly fee. When we contacted them to question about it, they said that nothing unusual showed up on their monitoring. Funny, because when we got home we found the system wasn't even reporting anything to them, and hadn't been for months. They got fired and a new system went in. We also have a friend who's staying at the house through the winter so that it's occupied.

Another project was to put new caulking on the seals of the roof of the RV. The integrity of the seals is all that prevents water leaking through the roof and causing rot and mold inside. And we also installed a vent cover on the bathroom vent so we can keep it open for circulation when it's raining, as well as a slide cover, which is a rolling cover for the slide out to keep branches, leaves and debris off the top, as well as protecting it from rain.

The summer was also filled with necessary doctor and dentist appointments. After breaking my back last year (compression fracture at T12) I had to have some physical therapy. One of the exercises the therapist prescribed for me to do aggravated an old shoulder injury. So when the PT on the back was done, the doctor changed the order for PT on the shoulder. All that seemed to irritate my right hip somehow, and, you guessed it, after the PT on the shoulder was done the order was changed to the hip problem. I figured everything needed to get better before I ran out of body parts!

Other than that, my physical, eye exam, and dental checkup went very well, as did Jim's. Based on my eye health and cholesterol bloodwork, I'm apparently not 73 anymore but quite a few years younger! Now if my knees would only agree. I'm beginning to sound like Rice Krispies when I get up out of a chair. I hear the distinct music of snap, crackle and pop.

We were blessed to receive a loaf of Challah bread from my good friend Judy Jacques in Colebrook. She makes the most wonderful bread and this is my favorite. We shared it with friends who joined us for dinner one night. Friends are one of the greatest blessings in our lives and we cherish them all.

The cold and snow began in late November. We went down country to southern NH for Thanksgiving with family and it was well below freezing during the night and in the low 30s during the day. I was thinking maybe I didn't want to go away this winter but the onset of wintry weather reminded me of why we leave. We left Thursday morning for our trip south and Mother Nature gave us a seasonal send off with some fresh snow overnight. It wasn't nearly as much as we had received in the north country, but enough that we were glad to leave NH.

As our winter trek begins, we are looking forward to this year's trip. Not sure we'll have the dramatic experiences we did last year, like getting lost in the desert, or Jim getting attacked by the cousin of the whomping willow, but we're ready for whatever comes. Hopefully we won't get snow in TX again. Let the adventures begin again!

My son and his wife made us these sweatshirts