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1 to 15 February 2016   16 to 29 February 2016



Monday February 1, 2016


It is a warm day at +28°C and we are not complaining.
I am watching Patrice washing his truck this morning.  He does good work.


We played a few games of shuffle board.


It was a relaxing day at the RV Park.



Tuesday February 2, 2016


We are very busy this morning.
Manon is preparing her homemade spaghetti sauce and we will be making one too.
We will even put the sauce in mason jars.
Manon is working hard preparing all that is needed for the sauce.


We finally know who the mysterious cook is, it is Patrice!



I am cooking the onions and hamburger meat for the sauce. Our slow cooker is much smaller than Manon's.  We have to use a large pot to complete the sauce.
 

Now that the sauce is cooking slowly, we play some games of shuffle board.
We love this game.


The mason jars are boiling and we make crazy faces.
 


Manon is explaining the process of using the mason jars.
 

Patrice full of joy!


I fill all the other mason jars.  We now have 9 mason jars filled with a very good spaghetti sauce.


I am pretty proud of myself.


It is Michele's turn to learn about the mason jars.  She is the one doing all the work and learning with Manon's sauce.
Michele is very good at this.
 

Who is hiding?


We had a very good day.  We had a lot of fun.
We really liked using the mason jars.



Wednesday February 3, 2016


A nice little bike ride in the park.


Croissant for lunch?  Why not!
 

We watched the hockey game outside.
 

We had a good day..



Thursday February 4, 2016


We currently have a drying rack made of metal and it is rusting.

A few days ago, we did some research on the internet to make a cloth dryer made of PVC piping.
A few days later, we bought all the pieces needed to make two of them.
This morning is time to built the clothes drying racks.

We use 3/4 PVC pipes and cut them to the proper size.
 

We are preparing for drilling of the holes for the cloths line.


Some of the pieces we have to cut are pretty short.


A test to see if everything fit before we glue the pieces together.


The important step.  Some parts are glued together and some will be screwed together.
The reason is for transport. That way we can take it apart and make it smaller for storage in the RV.


Here, we are watching the glue dry!


A few hours later, the glue is dry.  We drill two more holes for the small wire cables that will hold the rack horizontal.
 


We are now measuring the length needed to make the rack horizontal.


Another break!
 

Now we slide the clothes line in the holes we previously drilled.


The result of our hard work.  The arrows indicate the small wire cable we installed.


It is six o'clock and we are playing a tv game show named "Le tricheur".
As you can see, we are a little geeky, we all have a phone or tablet to play at the same time as the tv show.


It was a good day, but we did not finish the second drying rack because we are missing some parts.
My bad, ouppssss!



Friday February 5, 2016


Me and Patrice had a nice breakfast at MacDonald.
I noticed I am missing a button on my shirt and no, it is not because of my belly!!!


We spend the afternoon looking for some caches on our way to the Manatee Park near Fort Myers.

Patrice looking for a cache.  Look who is guarding the cache!
 

While we were looking for the cache, this big boat came to use the boat launch.
WOW!  Four engines of 400 hp!!!
 

The Manatee Park.


A quick pit stop.


Patrice with his new friend, the manatee.


Why are the manatees here?
This is the discharge of the power plant and the water being discharged is warm.
Warm water attracts the manatee.


We are lucky, just when we arrived, the presentation on the manatee was starting.
She was very good and we learned quite a bit on the manatee.


The water in the Orange River contains a lot of tannin and this is what makes the water the colour of tea.
The manatees are the brown thing that looks like rocks.


Here you can see the tail and the nose of some of the manatees.
 

The Manatee Park has a geocache hidden in it.  We found it no problems.


Some manatee spend a large part of their lives in salt water and they have some barnacles on their skin.
The manatees that spend more time in fresh water have more algae on their skin.
 

It was a very good visit.

Back home, we started another project.  This time it is for Manon and Patrice.
The 5th wheel they have has two gray water tank.  They are located almost at both ends of the 5th wheel.  To empty they gray water tanks they have to either install a "Y" on the sewer hose or move the sewer hose between the tanks every time they want to dump the gray waters.
Having a "Y" in your sewer hose makes it harder to handle when you want to store it for travel.
We had a brain storming moment and came up with a simple and cheap solution.
First, you change the cap at the end of the gray water pipe on the 5th wheel with one with a garden hose connection.


The second step is to drill a hole on the elbow of the sewer hose and glue an adapter to connect a garden hose.
We have glued the adapter and we have to wait for it to dry.  With the cool weather we currently have, it will take a few days to cure.


When everything will be dry, we will connect the hose between the two ends.


The advantage of using a garden hose is that you don't have to deal with an octopus (sewer hose) when time come to store it.
The cost is a lot cheaper too.
Patrice will paint the garden hose a different colour so it will not be used for clean water.

We finally finished the drying rack for Manon and Patrice.


For a quiet day it turned out to be busy.



Saturday February 6, 2016


We did a small grocery this morning.
We even returned to town on bikes this afternoon.
While in town, we got rained on a little

Once we were back home, we watched the hockey game outside.
 

In a few hours, the temperature dropped from 24 to 18°C and the rain started by the end of the second period.  We all went to our respective home.
It rained pretty hard at time, but no thunderstorm.  We had a TV evening.



Sunday February 7, 2016


We had rain until this morning.  By 8 or 9 am we have the sun with us, but it is still on the cool side.

Today is also the 50th Super Bowl.  We are prepared, we have lots of chicken wings and other food that is not healthy for us.
It is just for today!

We start with a pizza lunch.  Manon and Patrice seem very interested in what I am saying!
 

After the pizza, we went biking in the campground.
We found this little "girl" so cute, she deserved a second photo in the blog.
This alligator has a stuffed dog in his mouth and he is wearing valentine's glasses.
When we had the cold spell a few days ago, they even put a scarf around his neck!
 

After the bike ride, we played cribbage.  Some games were pretty close.
 

As I said, we have lots of food for the Super Bowl supper.  The 3 amigos watching the Super Bowl.  I cook as many wings as they want.
 

We had a busy week.



Monday February 8, 2016


Get ready because this update is long with lots of video to watch.

It is a quiet day today, Michele did a nice diet soup and I even manage to make 3 mason jars with it.


Tomorrow we will be leaving to visit my uncle Andre and aunt Gisele for a few days.



Tuesday February 9, 2016


It is a cool morning!
They seem to be happy that we are leaving!
 

I really like candies when I am driving.  Michele bought me some lollipop...


Andre and Gisele live about 1 hour 45 minutes from our RV Park.
We take the time to look for some caches while we drive to see them.
This one cache was on the big engine.


On the left is the levee that goes around Lake Okeechobee.  It is 110 miles long.
The tractors are on there way to another sugar cane field.


We can see many fire in the distance and we are wondering what is it about.


This is a transfer station where they transfer the sugar canes from the smaller trailers to the transport truck that will take the sugar cane to the plant.


We are lucky and watch a sugar cane harvester working.


Be patient, some videos are big.
Click here to see a harvester at work.

One more harvester at work.

I like this view.


We found many caches on our way to my uncle, but this last one, we did not find.


We found 9 caches today.

Shoot!  We did not take any photos at my uncle's place.  Not even at the dinner and dance we went to!
We had a good time.



Wednesday February 10, 2016


Here I am explaining what is geocaching to Gisele and Andre.
 

With the help of Gisele, we found two caches near her home.  Gisele likes geocaching.


This caterpillar was big and very unhappy that we touched it.
 

We took the time to look at some of the birds and turtles.
 
 

Julien invited us for supper.
 
 

The meal was very good and we had a good time with Julien, Andre and Gisele.



Thursday February 11, 2016


Michele having breakfast.


We leave Gisele and Andre before lunch and drive back home. We have to find some caches of course.


We did find a few caches on our way home.


Two caches were located in those weird looking trees.
 

We made a quick stop in Clewiston to book a place on the sugarland tour.


When we arrived home, Manon and Patrice invited us for supper.  We had big hamburgers and they were good.
 

A good day.



Friday February 12, 2016


I am in Clewiston this morning for the sugarland tour.
I am by myself because the tour does not really interest Michele, Manon and Patrice and also, the tour cost $38 US or $52 CDN.  It is very expensive.  The museum is the starting point for the tour.


Our bus for the sugarland tour.
We are visiting the U.S. Sugar corporation.
The tour will take us to the sugar cane field where we will see harvesting of the sugar cane.  We will go to the sugar cane plant and the "Southern Gardens Citrus" where they make orange juice.


We are on our way to the "smoke".


When a sugar cane field is ready to harvest, they light a fire in it to burn all the dead leaves and other debris.  This make it easier for the harvester to harvest the sugar canes.  The sugar canes are not damaged by the fire, but they have to be harvested within 36 hours or they deteriorate.
 


A normal sugar cane field burns in about 15 to 20 minutes.
A harvester at work.


Click here for a video of the harvester.

Another field is being burned for harvesting.


The first photo is showing a harvester and a tractor with 3 trailers behind.  The nest photo shows a tractor with only 2 trailers.
The reason for this depends on how wet the field is.  This year it is very wet in the fields.
 

The tour includes a stop in a sugar cane field where we will taste a sugar cane.
 

Click here for the video.

The taste of the sugar cane surprised me a little.  It was not a "sugary" as I expected.
You chew you sugar cane cube and when the taste is gone, you spit out the fiber left in you mouth.


Our tour guide was very good.


Once the sugar cane is harvested, it is transfered in train cars and moved to the sugar plant.  The railway and train belong to U.S. Sugar.


A field after it has been harvested.


We cannot tour the inside of the plant, so we tour the outside!


We can go inside the warehouse and have a look at all the sugar being stored.  This sugar is between two refining processes.
The warehouse is 1100 feet long, 70 feet wide and 40 feet high.
 

We also went to the "Southern Gardens Citrus" plant.  This is where they take oranges and make juice out of it.


We are between two harvest  of oranges so the plant is pretty well idle.
Usually this parking lot is full of trucks waiting to dumps the oranges at the plant.


The tour takes us around the city of Clewiston and by Lake Okeechobee.


A bird eye view of the city as it was being built.  Lake Okeechobee is at the top of the photo.


Back at the museum, we can see some big gears.  They are made of wood!
 

From 1941 to 1945, Clewiston had a British flying school here.
1,452 pilots graduated from this school.
 

Here are some numbers related to the industrial and farming activities in the area.
10 % of all the sugar produced in the US is from here
90 million gallons of orange juice is made here.
50% of the Florida sweet corn is from this area.
U.S. Sugar private company.
Southern Gardens Citrus and South Central Florida Express belongs to U.S. Sugar.
1,700 people work for U.S. Sugar.
215,000 acres are for the sugar cane.
Southern Gardens Citrus owns 1.8 millions orange trees on 12,500 acres.
The U.S. Sugar plant refine 42,00 tons of sugar a day.

Sugar cane is the priority here.  They stop all traffic on the main highway to let a convoy of tractor go by.
 

I really enjoyed the tour, but at $52 CDN it a very expensive.  Maybe at $25 US would have been better...

We got a sugar cane at the tour.  I cut it so Michele, Manon and Patrice can get a taste of it.
I am being careful cutting the cane


Here is one piece ready to be eaten.


This is what a sugar cane looks like.  It is usually 10 feet long.


Michèle, Manon and Patrice liked the taste of the sugar cane.

I really liked my day, I have learned a lot about farming in southwestern Florida area.



Saturday February 13, 2016


I am a few days late with the photo of the gray water hose project.
This is for an RV with two gray water tanks.
It works very good.
 

When we go to the flea market, we buy a cup of fruit for $3.
Manon and Patrice decided to make it themselves and it is good.


This is an afternoon for geocaching.  We are in the Lehigh area and in a neighborhood with hardly any houses.
The last recession probably stopped the development of the neighborhood.


We wonder if there are some alligators here!


Maybe!


It is hot and the thorns are hard on us, but we have fun.
 

We finished the day with some games of crib.


Another good day.



Sunday February 14, 2016


We are in gator country so why not go see some alligators.
Gatorama, here we come!


What is Gatorama?
It is a roadside attraction and an alligator farm.
They raise alligator and crocodile for the meat and the skin (leather).


I like the USA, look at the sign.
No comments!
 

The pond with its big alligators.  After the pond, you walk between small area where you can see alligators of different size.
 
 

Some times they do not look real, but they are.
 

They even have panthers and bobcats.
 

This is  "Goliath", Goliath arrived at Gatorama in 1968 and he was a young adult alligator.
For the next 25 years he lived in peace with all the other alligators.  Around 1993 he decided to establish his dominance and attacked other alligators and fought them until they died.  They had to move Goliath to his own area to protect the other alligators.


You want to see alligator?
Here they are!


This one is a crocodile and when he decided to climb, the other have to move out of his way.
   


We saw some feeding of the alligators and crocodiles.  Very impressive.
 

A small island in the pond with lots of BIG alligators.


We noticed a turtle stuck in a dead end.
We advised an employee and she took it out of there.  A few minutes later, the turtle was back in the dead end!!!


A peacock.
 

We also had an information presentation with this young man.  He was very good and had some tales about farming alligators.
The small alligator has his mouth taped shut, but it does not hurt them.
 

We can hold the alligator if we want.  Only me and Manon held one!
   

The kids can go in the pool and catch some alligators.


The tourists!


A few videos of alligators...

Click here for the first one

Here for the second one

and the last one

Right to the point!


Bye!


We were surprised with the quality and the price of this attraction.  At $13 each it was a good deal.
If you are in the area, it is worth a visit.



Monday February 15, 2016


We are on our way to Sanibel Island for some biking and geocaching.
 

Even if we are Monday, it is bumper to bumper to get on the island!
The bicycle path is very nice, but the traffic on the path was incredible.
When we stopped to look for caches, we had to be very careful about the bikes zipping around us at full speed.

A mother osprey feeding her little ones.


Part of the bicycle path is in a "jungle"!
 


A large part of the path is in an urban are of the island.
Somme coconuts not quite ready.
 

It is the first time we saw chairs like these one.


We continue looking for caches.
 

We met a French couple with their teenage children. They are from around Paris and they are touring Florida.
We had a nice talk with them.
We found 27 caches and biked 12 km.
On our way home from a very good day.


The retired life is hard, for Patrice.
 

A very good Monday!

Until next time.

Life is good...



    
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