Settled in at Cypress Lakes

  Today is January 21 and it has been a week since my last post. We have been in the house since last Wednesday when we made settlement. I still can't believe we did it. It almost feels surreal.

We spent Wednesday night in the trailer so we could load up the truck with as much stuff as possible and to bring it back to the house on Thursday. We then spent the next several days assessing what we needed and going out to get it.

The largest purchase was a grill. I went with the Weber Spirit E-210. It is perfect for small spaces. Basically everything else we need was already here. The cable was installed on Friday and Doreen is back to being queen of the DVR. I took some pics of the house and here is the view from the lanai:

Actually it is right outside the lanai because the screening blocked the camera's view. This is the lanai looking out onto the view above:

The lanai is nice because if you keep the windows closed it acts like a greenhouse keeping it nice and warm when the sun hits it.

Here is my golf cart garage in the front of the house:

 

And my golf cart parked in the drive way:

I had to get the hang of parking the truck in the carport. It is tight and I have to pull my mirror in to keep from hitting the supports:

 

Some views of the interior:

The previous owner did some work to the home like a reverse osmosis filter, sentricon termite detection system, comfort seal roof, new flooring in the kitchen and living room, energy efficient windows, and some other things.

I finally was able to at least get over to the pro shop today and get golf course info.

 

Then I went over to the driving range to hit some balls. I did get a range membership which I can use anytime and hit as many balls as I want.

 

I had already got to know some neighbors our first day when we made settlement. One of them came over to invite us to their monthly neighborhood pot-luck dinner at the clubhouse which we attended. There I met some guys who have regular golf days and they gave me a quick run down of the memberships. I don't know if I will join right now because it is expensive but they did invite me along with their group and I am playing tomorrow with them. It will be nice to able to get in the golf cart and drive over to the course, play a round, and then hang out in the bar and have few brews without ever getting into the truck. So, I will keep you all in mind while you are shoveling your driveways tomorrow and I am teeing off. Although I will have long pants on because the high will only hit 55 tomorrow. I think I can persevere.

 

 

 

 

 

Cats and Burgers

  Hello everyone, it has been a while since my last post on New Years Day. We left Orange Lake and came back to the campground on Jan. 3. The weather has been a roller coaster ride; a few days in the high seventies and now back to lows in the thirties coming up this week. The good thing is we will be in our new house tomorrow so I don't have to worry about burning through another tank of propane on those cold nights approaching. We will leave the trailer parked here for the rest of the month. I don't have a choice anyway since my awning got damaged a few weeks ago during a drenching rain storm and can't retract it. We are waiting to hear if the warranty will cover the repairs. The water pooled on the awning and there are arms that are supposed to retract to dump the water but that didn't happen and the arm bent and broke away from the trailer.
  Our only sightseeing trip was to Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. It is a sanctuary for rescued lions, tigers, leopards, and other wild cats that were either privately owned as pets, or from circuses.

The sanctuary is impressive and the cats are amazing. The tour starts with some bobcats.

 

Bobcats were rescued by the sanctuary's founder back in the early 90's. She then expanded the place for other big cats rescued by her.

Oh wait, that's not a big cat. That's our tiny tiger that thinks she is a big cat!

Here is a real big cat. A tiger. They are not sure if he is a Bengal or Asian because they were rescued and do not know his lineage.

 

 

 

Together in one enclosure is a male lion and female white tiger. They think they are a couple. An interesting fact: white tigers are not rare. There is a one in four chance that a tiger will be white. Unfortunately most white tigers are not perfect with the stripes actually brown like this girl.

 

 

Unfortunately the male lion would not look at the camera.

 

And here we have a leopard

 

Leopards are probably the strongest of the big cats. They can carry prey twice their body weight up in a tree.

 

 

Here we have Nikita. A 500 lb. lioness. She was found by police protecting a drug dealers stash.

 

She is a regal lady but has her moments of playfulness:

 

Sadly she was declawed by her owner and the experience has left her in chronic pain. She cannot stand for long on her paws because of her immense size causing pressure on those amputated toes.

 

Here we have an African Serval I believe:

 

There were many cougars/ panthers/ mountain lions which are all one and the same.

 

 

Then we have some jaguars: black, golden, and striped. Once again they are all the same. All three color combinations can occur in the same litter

 

The Big Cat Rescue is a noble cause and all proceeds go to taking care of the cats. It is hard to imagine people wanting to make a wild cat a pet but it happens all the time. I wouldn't want to feed one as a pet. An adult lion costs $10,000 a year to feed.

 

Our last memorable stop recently was an eatery featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins, and dives. A place called Danny's All American Diner.

 

It is just a roadside diner for burgers and dogs. I had the Guy Fieri designed burger that had a burger, corned beef, and pulled pork. Doreen had the Cuban Sandwich which I just polished off for lunch today. This is the only place where a $10 burger is worth it. We washed it all down with an old fashioned bottle of strawberry pop. Yes pop, not soda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year

  Happy New Year everyone. Sorry for posting so late but I just got back from the golf course! It has been a rainy first day of 2014 but I got 27 holes in here at the resort.

I know what some of you that have golfed with me in the past are thinking: he would  never golf in the rain if he had a choice. Well I kind of didn't have a choice. My lovely wife got me a golf lesson for Christmas. That is scary because she has only seen me play once. Guess I didn't make a good impression! Anyway you get free rounds with the lesson so I had use them up before we leave Friday. She did her best keeping me away from the pro shops the first few days we were here so I didn't spoil her gift. I usually pay for a pass as soon as I get here that gets me all four courses.
  Every year I get hooked up with a good group of guys to play with. This year I played with Dan from Illinois; Richard, Rob, and Gordon from Toronto; and Roberto from Monterrey Mexico. I have played golf with the entire continent of North America! The Toronto guys were really good. All single digit handicaps so I was forced to play from the next to last tees on the Legends course. Not good for me. Today I played the Reserve with Roberto who was a 76 year old gentleman who played from the forward tees and I joined him. He beat me by five strokes! We then played the nine hole Cranes Bend course and I got him to play from the white so I could take him. I did, by one stroke. (I am still working on the finer points from my lesson!)
  The lesson actually helped but it so hard to make adjustments to a swing you have perfected (or perfected incorrectly) over the course of 30 years. Orange Lake is the home to the McCord Golf Academy. Rick McCord is a Golf Magazine top 100 instructor plus he is originally from Schuylkill County PA. I got my lesson from Scott who is on his staff. Rick's rate is about 3x the rate for a staff instructor. I recommend them highly if you ever come to Orange Lake.
  Christmas day was spent here at the resort where we enjoyed a nice dinner buffet at the River Island Grilling Company and a stroll afterwards.

Well, New Years Eve was definitely different for us last night. We miss all of our friends that used to come to the house for our parties and I am sure you all found ways to stay entertained, but it was nice to relax and not have to do all that work preparing. We stayed here on the property and went to Breezes Key West Grille for dinner, drinks and live music

 then came back to the room to uncork champagne at midnight

It was quite chilly last night (59*) but that did not deter some folks who were still swimming in the pool as the band played and a game played on the big screen behind the pool.

As a matter of fact the weather has been very chilly. The temp was in the 80's when we arrived, but this week the highs have only been to the low 70's at best and the lows have been dropping. We went to Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk a couple of nights and it is odd to see people in winter coats at those places. We ate at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney which was a mistake. We hadn't eaten there in years and now I remember why: a $20 plate of spaghetti and $10 drinks. Never again. Universal has a better deal. We got dinner and a movie for about $22 a person. The deal at Disney is one of those dine while you watch the movie set ups. First they charge you more to get in and then you have to eat while watching the movie, which I find distracting. At Universal you get your pick of restaurants (limited menus) and then a movie at the AMC Cineplex. We ate at Pastamore and the food was excellent.

We have been coming here for years and I thought we had eaten at every place at City Walk but Bubba Gumpps, but this might have been the first time for Pastamore. We walked around a little and bought t-shirts in Margaritaville before heading to the theater.

The nice thing about City Walk is you have your choice of the Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville, Pat O'Briens, Bob Marley's, NBA Cafe, NSACAR Cafe, Bubba Gumpps, and even a Whopper Bar. 

  At the movies we saw Grudge Match. Don't waste your $12. Some cutesy funny moments but not too good. Kevin Hart and Alan Arkin steal the show in my opinion. After the movie Doreen dragged me to see Rocky Horror Picture Show which was playing at midnight in the same cineplex. Oh my God! What is the fascination with that movie? I would rather sit through two root canals. Doreen loves it though and I have made her sit through her fair share of sporting events and the like. I consider us even!

  Orange Lake is a great place and I hate to let it go. My sister and brother-in-law are probably going to take one of our weeks. So far I am not sure about the other one. I'll keep you posted.