A wonderful day

I had such a good day today.  Randy and I worked at the Snack Shack during lunch and it was fun because we had a lot of customers.  Then we biked over to Coligny beach.  The sun was shining but it turned out to be too windy for the beach, and Randy got a little sand-blasted when he tried to lay out.  But I really enjoyed walking along the shore.  This beach is all hard-packed sand and usually there are almost no shells around, but today when the tide was out I found several Olive Snails.  I usually just find the beautiful shells, but all of these still had the snail in residence, so of course I left them alone.  

I could see where they had been moving around since the tide went out, leaving little gullys in the sand.

One of them kept poking out of his shell to check  what was going on around him.  I have never seen these little critters moving like this before.

 If this video loads, it shows him moving around.

After I was done being amused by the Olive Snails, we bicycled back to the RV Park.  This park really does deserve to be called a Resort; what a beautiful place to some home to!

There was still a little afternoon left, so I laid out by the pool awhile, then moved to the hot tub.  What a great day!

One year ago: Imperial Spa - a little awkward but worth it

Two years ago: Visiting St. Louis

Three years ago: Laird Hot Springs and Toad River

Leaving Shorty Home Alone . . . with precautions

We are working at leaving Shorty out of his kennel for longer and longer periods when we are not home.  This can be tricky because he finds odd ways to amuse himself when we are not there.  For example, he likes to type on the computer.  If I leave a document open when I'm out of the room for a few minutes, when I get back I find something like mmmmmmmmm////////////.,,,,,.,,,,.,,,,./

When he gets tired of typing, he tries to use the mouse.  That always ends up with the mouse on the floor with the batteries popped out, which isn't good for it. 

And he likes to chew things.  Every thing, actually.  But his very favorite thing seems to be pens.  He loves the crunch.  Even the metal tips don't deter him.

If we are quick, we can usually save the pen.  But sometimes the pen is terminal...

And Shorty LOVES cat food.  We keep the cat food in the back room and Julienne is convinced she can't jump over the gate between the main room and the back room.  She was here when we first got the gate; it was quite tall and she really could not jump it.  Since then we've gradually cut the gate down until we can step over it fairly easily, but she still does not try to jump it.  Shorty has no such inhibitions.  He sails over the gate as if it's not even there.  But he knows he's not supposed eat the cat's food, so he waits until we are out of the RV or not watching him, then he jumps over the gate, grabs a mouthful of cat food, jumps back over the gate and then sits down to eat it.  He kind of hunkers over the food so that if we hear him crunching and look at him, it's not easy to tell if he's eating dog food or cat food.  When that mouthful of food is gone, he does it again.  Then when Missy is ready to have her dinner, her food dish is empty!

So when we leave, if we move the keyboard and mouse back away from the edge of the desk and if we move all pens out of reach and if we move the cat food off the floor and if we clean the cat litter, we can leave him out of the kennel.  

One Year Ago: Repainting the RV - a mess at this stage

Two Years Ago: Back In St. Louis

Three Years Ago: Fort Nelson, British Columbia

Continental Breakfast at the Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort

What do you get when you combine fresh fruit and fruit salad,

Partfaits of yogurt, fresh fruit and granola, 

And some yummy donuts and bagels?

A delicious Continental Breakfast, courtesy of Randy.

The Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort has a Hospitality lady due in next month so to fill in the gap until then, Randy is doing a few extras.

One year ago:Titanic's maiden voyage

Two Years ago: Back in St. Louis

Three Years ago: From Seattle into Canada, headed for Alaska!

Best food on Hilton Head Island - Randy's, of course!

We really like the other Workampers here, but unfortunately one couple is going to leave soon.  Since we can't talk them into staying, we decided to give them a going-away dinner.  The menu was Smoked Salmon Canapé, Spinach Strawberry Salad, Prime Rib, Twice-Baked Potatoes, Haricot Vert, and these little goodies - Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Fresh Fruit and Crème Fraîche

The setting was a table by the lake and the guests were people who all like each other.  Great dinner.

This was on a week day.  Weekends Randy mans the grill at the Snack Shack, making a burger that puts Five Guys to shame.

And every other Tuesday he makes me look good at the Afternoon Tea.  This week I asked for Russian treats.  That meant a couple of Pirogs with Poppy Seed filling, 

Blinis with cream cheese and smoked salmon, plus Blinis with Blackberry or Strawberry jam,

 and Gozinakh, which is a walnut and honey candy.

So I am still enjoying life here at Hilton Head Island.  Not losing weight, but enjoying life!

How Hilton Head Island keeps it's natural look

The people of Hilton Head Island really love their trees.  At least part of the reason is that they have such great trees. There are a lot of Live Oaks here; I used to think meant a regular Oak tree that is still alive.  But Southern Live Oaks are amazing - they grow big, close to the ground and in all directions.  On Hilton Head they are allowed to grow as they please, and if they grow over the walkway, someone just puts up a "Low Clearance" sign and everyone walks under it.

I have discovered that on Hilton Head you need to know where you are going before you can go there, because there are simply no big signs on the Island.  Even a big store like Walmart just has a small sign, about waist high, on the side of the road, tucked in close to the thick shrubs and trees.

And if you want to find a gas station, you really need sharp eyes.

This is all done so that nothing distracts from the view and the feeling of being close to nature.  Even the Walmart parking lot is full of trees!

There are some gorgeous houses on the Island and apparently every house, no matter how expensive, has to be careful not to stand out.  The acceptable colors seem to be limited to neutral and forest colors.

 And don't be cutting down any trees!

This is all good - you never feel like you are in a big city.  And where it's not covered with trees, the island is covered with soft sand.  Such a great place to spend the season!

A Snake in Paradise

Hilton Head Island may be a natural paradise, but it seems that every paradise has its snake.  Hilton Head Island has copperheads.  These are pit vipers and they are venomous, although rarely deadly.  But there are some beloved children and a lot of pampered dogs here, so there is no interest whatsoever in sharing the yard with snakes.  When the snakes come out of the brush and into the yard, they are extraordinarily hard to see.  Their mottled brown skin blends absolutely perfectly with the leaf-strewn yard.

And if they don't move, you won't see them. 

This one wasn't noticed until it crawled onto the driveway.  When people stopped to see it, it moved to the yard where it stopped and became almost invisible.   

One of the renters called Animal Control and then kept an eye on the snake, but Animal Control didn't show up.  It started getting dark early because of a storm coming in, so eventually everyone decided that the snake had to go.  Unfortunately, without the proper tools to make it leave the easy way, it left the hard way.

One Year Ago:  Doheny Beach

Two Years Ago: Snow in St.Louis

Three Years Ago:  Stuck in Tillamook

Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort Owner's Dinner

At the Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort, each of the 401 RV sites is owned by an individual.  Most Owners put their sites on the Rental Program and therefore are not here most of the year, but once a year they get together for a week for their annual meeting.  That was this week, and on Thursday the Resort hosted the Owner's Dinner.  The menu was already decided - hot dogs and hamburgers - and they needed someone to make sure it was tasty and on time.  Randy took that job on.  To round out the menu he added potato salad, cole slaw and chips, plus cookies and brownies.  

It takes some real coordination to cook for and serve 225 people.  Fortunately we had great help - Mike, Mark, Sarah, Tom, Gail, Suzanne and Lucinda all pitched in to grill, serve and clean.  Everything was ready on time, we kept the dishes full during service, and it was all delicious. 

After dinner they brought in a Steel Drum Band for entertainment. . . 

providing a fun ending to a good evening! 

Tea Time at Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort

Yesterday I hosted another tea party for the Resort.   This time I brewed Earl Grey - I decided to serve something that I know most guests would like, instead of an unknown tea.  We had about 20 guests this time, including two little girls who were so excited to be at a real Tea Party.  A couple of high school boys stopped in, too - they were a little embarrassed to be at a Tea Party but they just couldn't resist the goodies.  

I love doing this, although I probably wouldn't if I didn't have access to the world's greatest chef.  Randy always makes the Treats, and every time I ask for something different.  This time the menu was a combination of our ideas - Black Forest Ham and Aged Swiss Cheese sandwiches with a light Dijon mustard, dressed eggs, and little chocolate cakes shaped like eggs.  The cakes were filled with chocolate cream and covered with a chocolate ganache, then decorated with pink frosting. It was AWESOME!