I came down with a cold, or something, on Wednesday, February 9.
I watched and listened, from the bed, a lot of the comings and goings of Jim, Donnie and Connie. On Wednesday afternoon, Jim wasn't feeling well at all himself, so we kind of took turns getting out of bed to get each other water or a pill or cough syrup. It was kind of like whoever happened to be getting up would get something for the other.
During this time, Donnie and Connie would go down to Key West to visit with Robbie and Sugar. I was in a daze.
I got up on Thursday Night to go to the dinner here at Lazy Lakes. Connie had made a Chess Pie and a salad as our 'dish to take.' I sat at the table for about 20 minutes, then just had to excuse myself.
On Friday Morning, I rallied long enough to join Jim, Donnie, Connie and Robbie for breakfast at Blue Heaven. This was something Jim and I had told Donnie and Connie we wanted to do with them. I got myself up and out, we drove down to blue heaven for breakfast, then I came back and went right back to bed. What a bummer!!!
Donnie and Connie left on Saturday Morning. We did get some laundry done, including the sheets on our bed. After the bed was remade, I immediately crawled right back in.....
Jim was in and out of the camper, fortunately finding himself things to do. I think he got to play in a few marbles games.
On Saturday Afternoon, I decided I wanted a candy bar. Got out of bed, retrieved a Milky Way that we had in the freezer. Went back to bed with my candy, and immediately, upon biting down on the frozen candy, broke off a crown on my tooth. Well, I got up, almost in tears, threw the candy away and crawled back in bed willing myself to go to sleep.
I let Hillary know about this latest chain of events in her mother's life and she got on the telephone to arrange an appointment with a dentist (a parent from the co-op.) Seems dental offices are closed in Key West on Mondays, and, in my case, this type of work could only be done on Tuesdays, so, an appointment was arranged for Tuesday Morning at 9:30.
Sunday and Monday were two more days spent in bed, now, not only nursing this cold, or whatever, but trying not to swallow the crown from my tooth. I kept the crown on the tooth, and really should have just taken it out of my mouth for safe keeping. You can't teach this old 64 year old dog any new tricks.
The dentist Dr. Manchester, and his staff were amazingly nice to me on Tuesday Morning. Although, this particular dentist did not have the necessary 'baking tools' or 'paste' to reattach the crown.
Dr. Manchester said he could call a fellow practicing dentist that he thought may have the necessary tools to reattach the crown. If he could, and if he could take me right away, I would need to get to his office right away.
Well, as luck would have it, Dr. Goldney could, did and would take me right away.
Meanwhile, Jim had dropped me off at Dr. Manchester's and gone to get gas as well as stop by Home Depot. As I needed to get to Dr. Goldney's office asap, the staff at Dr. Manchester's called a taxi for me. I was a little concerned when the taxi driver looked at the card with the address of Dr. Goldney with confusion. Again, as luck would have it, he was able to get me to my destination. Meanwhile, I am calling Jim, leaving word, and Jim calls me back, more than a little perplexed that I am in a taxi, leaving one dentist office for another.
As I am filling out paperwork, yet again, Jim walks into Paradise Dental Care. The paperwork I completed at Dr. Manchester's office was the typical four or five pages of information and checkoffs. I was pleased when I heard Dr. Goldney tell his receptionist that I need not complete all that information. So, it was an abbreviated version of the forms here in his office.
As I completed the forms, a lady was standing at the counter and told me, that I was in the best possible dentist office. That she was a local and Dr. Goldney was simply the best dentist around. He was in the reception area when she said this, and he was very kind and thanked her for the nice words.
Dr. Goldney inquired as to where in North Carolina I was from. One of his staff, said she had lived in Charlotte for a while, further, that she did not like living there, too much traffic.
Dr. Goldney said he was from a little town called "Brooklyn" and that his wife was from a little town in North Carolina named "Asheboro."
All in all, if you have to spend a Tuesday Morning in a dentist office while in Key West, the offices of Dr. Manchester and Dr. Goldney come highly recommended by me.
Crown repaired - maybe a temporary fix, maybe a fix for years, according to Dr. Goldney. If there is anymore problem with the crown while here, Dr. Goldney says, please come back and he will take care of it, free of charge.
Back to the land of the living, I continued to take it easy on Tuesday Afternoon. On Wednesday Morning, February 16 (which, by the way, was Brent's Birthday) I felt like going with Jim to put out his bait trap. He is trying dog food at bait with little or no success. Seems that 'chum' is the way to go.
I decided that by Thursday I would have some strength back and called Hillary to ask about having lunch with Gabby. I did have lunch with Gabby, got to visit her room and then go to the playground with her class.
When I got to Hillary's (I had dropped Jim off so he could maybe get some things done while I was at school) it was time to pick up the Padster at the co-op.
Jim left Hillary's to come back to the camp and get in a little fishing and I stayed with Lil while Hillary went to Poinciana to get Gabby.
Then, on to pottery class for Gabby and gymnastics for Lily.
I was so glad to get to spend these hours with the girls (all three of them) after being down in bed for so long.
Hillary and the girls brought me back to camp and Jim and I went to the Thursday Night Dinner which was a soup and carrot cake cook off.
When the girls and I got back to camp, I noticed an invitation laying on the table addressed to "Jim and Karen." Gabby asked if she could open it and of course, we were all curious.... The invitation reads "Volunteer Dinner at 5:30 p.m. on February 27 at the clubhouse" I asked Jim what this meant and who it was from. Seems that Carolyn and Dale delivered the invitation and this would be a private dinner. I grinned and told the girls and Jim that maybe we had finally been accepted! Certainly, we have come a long way from last year.
I didn't hang around long after the soup and carrot cake dinner. The day had pretty much wiped me out. Jim did get to play marbles while I came back and rested.
As I write here, Jim is fishing on the bridge with Larry. They have been gone for several hours, so, hopefully, they are catching something.
Through the weeks here, there have been many ups and down for our fellow campers. Walter and Lorraine, from New Jersey, have made several trips back and forth to West Palm Beach to visit Walter' brother. His brother was in a car accident and is in critical condition in the hospital.
Mike and Joan, from Missouri, each had a nasty bout with, I guess, maybe the same thing I am recovering from. They each battled it for a week or two.
Jerry from behind us, and from Michigan, had to have a tooth pulled and his face was black and blue for a week.
During horseshoes several weeks ago, a fellow camper, Pat tossed a shoe, fell and broke her little finger on her left hand.
Char, Jerry's wife, went on a major grocery shopping trip to the Winn Dixie at Big Pine and when she got to the checkout, the credit card didn't work, she tried another, and it didn't work either, she had to put all her groceries back. I never heard the outcome of that fiasco, seems they may have thought there was some kind of identity thief in regard to the cards.
A beautiful day here at Lazy Lakes Campground in Sugarloaf Key. I understand it is an equally beautiful day in Norwood, North Carolina.
Let's see what this day brings as I continue to be up and about and shedding this bout of nasty sickness! :)
Jim's little 'honey hole' spot for his bait trap. There is some concern about the bait traps being stolen, although, as I understand it, there is a fine of about $500 if someone is caught stealing a bait trap. Jim threw the bait trap basket out behind the branches of the mangroves to the right of the picture. This spot is right up the road on the other side of the fishing bridge.
After Jim threw out his bait trap, he did a little exploring, checking out possible other spots. This wall of concrete and rock intrigued both of us. Not sure of its purpose, although we both agreed the wall has been along this section of the waters for a long time. Maybe put there when US 1 was built, or maybe was a defining area for a boat ramp at some time in the far distant past.
This colorful, dear man is Dale. Dale and Sally live here at Lazy Lakes. Sally works at Murray's Market and Dale, originally, was/is one of the workers here at camp. Dale's health is not good at all. Although, he continues to drive by on his golf cart greeting everyone he passes. On this day, when driving by, he said "don't I look like a tourist?" He went on to explain the shirt was one of the official KOA staff shirts a long time ago and someone had given the shirt to him. Dale is on his way over to the KOA and decided to wear his KOA shirt.
Lily taking a picture of herself. She found my camera while on a scavenger hunt in my pocketbook.
Another Lily self-photo.
Now, Lily seems to be getting the hang of the camera as she took this picture of me!
Gabby at her pottery wheel. This was a wonderful adventure for me, to see this pottery shop and Gabby at work. Her instructor is a warm, wonderful person named Adam. I'm thinking the pottery shop is run by Adam and his wife. I loved meeting Adam and having the opportunity to watch Gabby while she worked. It should be noted that for my Valentine Gift, Gabby gave me a pottery piece that she had made. I am deeply touched and will treasure it always.
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