One two three...go!

As we are approaching the sizzling Florida summer season, I realize this is our second summer here already.  I remember visiting my girlfriend in Tampa years ago and going for a morning walk. I remember looking over at her, walking leisurely next to me. Her face is  glistening. I said: "Are you wearing a shiny lotion or are you sweating"?  She replied with: "I am sweating". It's what you do here.  Surprised I said that I assumed one would get used to this climate after some time. When it's hot and humid you kinda melt.  Welcome to SOUTHERN FLORIDA.   Our apartment has become our home. This city has become OUR city. We are constantly exploring and expanding our knowledge of what Saint Petersburg is all about.  Our place is only a 15 minute bike ride to the popular St. Pete Pier. Located downtown its one of the many happening places.  Outdoorsy tan people in shorts, on scooters you can rent at every downtown stre

  About a year ago I was sitting on a plane as well.  I was writing ✍️ a blog while on my ✈️ to California.   Today I am happily anticipating finishing the last leg of my flight from Tampa to Manhattan,  Kansas.  Let me tell you one thing: Long distance ANYTHING is NOT fun. In this case the distance between me and my children.  One in Kansas, one in Colorado.  Now if I had $$ coming out of my rear end, I'd be seeing them all the time. The bitter reality speaks its own volume.  We rely on video calls instead.   Do you ever make a decision, think it's the best,  the wisest and then figure out just how dumb your great decision really was? Look no farther.  Joe and I had the conversation that ended up being the typical "we should have…." monolog. Frustrated,  we came to realize that our super wise decision is now costing us a whole lot of money we don't really have. This is the consequence of our actions.  At this point you are probably asking,

               C HA N G E  Well good day, fellow humans. The day we have been anxiously working towards has come and gone already.  On December 14th 2021 we officially became apartment inhabitants. The time we've spent being vagabonds was a learning process. Challenging, rewarding and an experience we will always treasure.   But our hearts weren't in it anymore and we were so ready to become permanent residents of Saint Petersburg, Florida.   And with many things in life if things are too easy how would you appreciate the end result? Right? Finding a place to live with 4 pets was quite an uphill battle. There are size restrictions, breed restrictions, quantity restrictions. There are pet deposits, pet rent. You name it, they are tagged on.  But after endless phone calls, text messages, clicks on various websites and making Google my number ONE "go to" every day, we finally found THE place! In the middle of the hustle and bustle of beautiful Saint Petersburg! Our back

 My suggestion is: If you don't love water,  don't come here! This beautiful park is mostly used by locals.  So consider yourself lucky that I am sharing the top notch goods with you. Just kidding. http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/camping.htm   This affordable jungle-like campground is literally surrounded by water on all sides. It has approximately 236 sites and books often months in advance. There are many water sites to choose from, many of them very spacious.  You'll be by mangroves on some sites.  This is literally a Florida experience at its best.  There are separate sections of the park:  1. If you own or don't mind being around people with pets. The pet section.  2. You guessed it:  Non-pet section for rigs of all sizes and tents.  3. Tent sites that can only fit tents or very small trailers. No pets here.  There is no lighting at night except for the entrance to the park and bath houses. Speaking of bath houses. There are plenty somewhat open concept ones, al

Has it really been 6 months of jungle life? Uuuhuuuh! The palm trees, wild and ungroomed, have done me in.  Love grew in record speed. Yes I love this place.   Fort Desoto.    https://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm The trails, the beautiful beaches, the abundance of birds. I can honestly say that I don't recall seeing such a crazy variety of large birds anywhere before.   While the actual Fort leaves alot to be desired  (at least in my book) the rest of this luscious southern tip of the peninsula screams paradise.  We've encountered one mandatory evacuation this summer.  Call us lucky!  From what we were told, in 2020 they had 9 of these here! The downside of being surrounded by large bodies of water, I suppose. So yeah,  we packed up and left to go an hour north at friends, who were kind to take us in.   Then we turned around 2 days later and came back.  The park was unharmed. Thank goodness 🙏.  I am proud to have mastered yet another lev

  I go about my daily tasks to include the workamper duties, managing and selling my things on "Ulrike's Shop " . I am also starting a new job as an Executive Personal Assistant to a lovely couple in St. Pete, when life decides to off-rail things a whole bunch.   Yep here we were, Joe spending an x-amount of hours applying for upper management positions and doing his handyman gig on the side. That's when his body put a break on! The signal was: You're done dude.  Fast forward: THREE awful weeks of pain.  Daily pain management,  sleepless nights,, doctors visits and MRI's. Dealing with the medical non-caring system that is quick to prescribe but at snail- speed to get to the cause of a problem.  My health isn't where it should be either, adding to the daily frustration. But that seems secondary.  Times like these are challenging to say the least. Each day is filled with stuff that needs to be done and at the end of the day, I find myself exhausted.  I am ov