Monday, November 20, 2023

Thanksgiving Plans

Yesterday Brendon and I loaded up and drove over to Brandon's on the Atlantic side of the state. Two hours and 15 minutes to go 90 miles. It's called DISNEY traffic. There was a pretty horrific wreck on I-4 around the Disney exits, but it was west bound and I was east bound, so it didn't slow me up. There was considerable traffic though even after I got off of I-4. I only have to take it for 22 miles, but it took an hour. It was good to see the kids, grandkid and doggie. 

Tonight Brandon and I are going to see Mannheim Steamroller live at the King Center here in Melbourne. They are one of my favorites and Terry would always buy me their new Christmas album every year. Their music is timeless and much more than the traditional holiday tunes. They make it magical. I'm looking forward to it tonight.

Tomorrow Brendon and I are leaving and heading to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Jocelyn and her family at her in-law's house in Chesapeake. Tom and Sharon are good friends and it will be a fun time. Since I don't plan on going to Indiana in the spring as usual (no graduations this year), I wasn't sure when I would see them again. We are driving the car this time as the weather in Virginia this time of year can be kind of iffy. And I can't park my motorhome at Tom and Sharon's. They have a large enough house; there will be room for Brendon and I.

I have been busy the last couple weeks. I hired the guy (the wrong guy it turns out) to do some work around the house. He got some stuff done satisfactorily, but he really messed up on some things. My new full view storm doors were not installed completely and there is no trim around them. He just left one inch gaps all around and air was getting in/out. I friend helped me seal them up to keep out the weather and I am going to try and find someone to help get them functional. I don't want the guy that did it back in my house. I'm hoping to get that taken care of when I get back.

Brendon has to see a specialist when we get back. His liver enzymes are high and getting higher with every blood test. High liver enzymes are the bane (one of them) of the Scottish Terrier breed and not always troublesome, but when they appear suddenly and continue an upward trend, they need to be investigated. He doesn't show any signs or symptoms of anything more sinister, so I am hoping nothing is seriously amiss. He continues to be my rock. 

Till next time. . .

Dale

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Never Say Never!!!

I have decided to revitalize my blog. Many factors have led to this. One is that I often refer to my old blog to look up places I’ve been or to check dates, etc. I find the blog a real source when it comes to checking events in my life. So I have decided to keep it going. Another reason is that next summer I am flying to England and embarking from there on a 12-day cruise of the British Isles and Ireland. I am going with friends and I want a way to record the trip and include pictures. I hope to blog daily and create a travel-log much like I did for our Alaska trip (see 2013, May, June, July, August). Then I had to decide if I wanted to start a new blog or extend the old one. For the present, I am going to add on to the existing blog known as “Skoolzout forever” as it is still an apt title for this former schoolteacher.

 Even though I thought my life was over when Terry died, I found it just changed. Rather dramatically and suddenly, but life does go on. I managed to sell my big motor home quite quickly and had some updates done on my little one, MinnieMee. I drove her for the next two summers, traveling to Virginia and Indiana to visit family every summer. And my new travel buddy, Brendon, travels very well with me. He doesn’t like sitting up front in his car seat, though. He prefers sleeping in his travel crate on the floor behind the passenger seat. He can see me from there so he feels very safe and secure. So that’s how we roll. He particularly enjoys visiting my sister Nita because of her three dogs, Albert loves Brendon and they play non-stop. So much so that he lost a pound (which is a lot for a little dog) over the summer.

Just to update, ten months after Terry died, my Mom died In September 2021. She was 96 and still living on her own in her trailer at my sister’s woods. She had a stroke and after being hospitalized and starting rehab in a nursing home, she had another which was devastating. She made the decision to allow only comfort measures and she died a few days later.

In November, 2021 right after Thanksgiving, my daughter Jocelyn, drove down from


  Virginia and we hitched the trailer on to MinnieMee and we drove to Mission, Texas, to my place Terry and I had in an RV Park. We cleaned out the shed and the Texas Room and put a For Sale sign in the yard. It sold in two hours! We loaded the trailer up with as much as we could carry, including the golf cart, and started back to Florida. We arrived back to my home in 15 days from when we left. A fast and productive journey. In that time I had emptied the place of everything I wanted, sold it and got back home. I would never have believe that possible. Jocelyn got back home and still had a week before Christmas!

In July 2022, I was finally able to have Terry’s ashes interred in Indiana. Covid interfered with a service and getting a columbarium built, but it all came together finally and we had a nice service with family and a few close friends in attendance. 

In November 2022, I found my “dream coach” and managed to buy it. Fortunately it was just two miles up the road. It is a 2021 Coach House Platinum III, one of two models on my list and it has all the bells/whistles I want/need! I was able to sell MinnieMee quickly. Good small motor homes are in high demand.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I published my blog. It ended up being seven volumes and over 1500 pages! I also have digital files that I can load onto usb storage devices.


Till next time. . . 

Dale


Friday, January 29, 2021

Our time here has come to an end. . .

This will be my last post on Skool'z Out Forever. . . As you all know, my traveling companion is gone and while I do still intend to do some traveling. . . it will be different.

Phaeton Place has been sold. Bittersweet, but I'm glad I was able to get that done and get a good price for her. She is living in South Carolina now and her new owner is very happy with her.

I intend to keep MinnieMee for the time being, but I plan to trade/sell her and get a Class B, van-type RV to travel in. I'm looking at Coach House and Leisure Travel Vans.

I have a new buddy, a 5-year old Scottish Terrier named Brendon. He is a cutie and I hope he takes to traveling!


I am keeping my place in Polk City, Florida, and beginning to do some of the upgrades Terry and I had planned. My plan is to stay here most of the winter and do some traveling to see family in the summer, once Covid is gone.

I am publishing my blog in several volumes. I plan to keep it for my grandchildren so that one day they will read about their grandparents' adventures fulltiming!

I wish you readers all the best. It's been a great 15 years!

Dale


Sunday, November 01, 2020

Signs

When Terry died, I prayed for some sign that he was okay. I remember all the tales of signs when my sister died and stories others have of when their loved ones passed on. A common theme among all those stories is the cardinal. A beautiful red bird, my favorite of all, and one that seems to show up during these times.

As the days after his death wore on, I resumed my normal activities in the motorhome, sitting in my chair and spending time on my computer. It was usually dark when I would arrive back at the camp from my daughter's house and as I sat in my chair I would hear "clunks" and "thunks" from outside somewhere. Sounds like that are very common in a campground and I was in relative close proximity to other campers and thought nothing of it. It was dark outside and I couldn't see anything outside anyway.

  One morning as I was sitting and enjoying   coffee I heard the noise again, as I had several different times. On impulse, I put my blind up and looked out the window next to me. To my surprise, there was a cardinal staring right back at me! He was on the sideview mirror at the front of the motorhome, not but a few feet away from me! The thunking noise I had been hearing for the past couple days was his pecking at the mirror! And this noise all started after I had asked for a sign! Imagine that! It was several days before I would leave for our home in Florida, and that cardinal stayed with me until I left, sometimes perching briefly on my window frame. I eventually started putting out some sunflower seeds for him and he eagerly ate them up! daughter's mother-in-law, Sharon, spent a night with me and she even got to see the cardinal! 

Later she sent me a lovely plaque to hang in my house. My son's mother-in-law also gifted me a pillow she had made. 

Dale

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Terry's Obituary

Terry Allen Pace

APRIL 15, 1950 – OCTOBER 11, 2020





Terry Pace, age 70, died Sunday, October 11, 2020, at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a short illness. He was born April 15, 1950, in Booneville, Mississippi to Henry W. Pace and Valera Tennison Pace.


In 1971 he married Dale Ann Schrock who survives. He is also survived by his daughter, Jocelyn Pace (Tom Lynch) of Charlottesville, Virginia, and his son Brandon Pace (Megan) of Melbourne, Florida. He loved his three grandchildren Ronan Lynch, Aenea Lynch and Brynlee Pace. Also surviving is an uncle, Dan Nichols, of Goshen, Indiana. He was 

preceded in death by his parents.


Terry was a 1968 graduate of Concord High School in Dunlap, Indiana, and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He taught school for five years at Tri High School near New Castle and then entered the business world eventually working in sales for a garage door manufacturer. He and his wife raised their family while living in Mooreland in central Indiana. After retirement, Terry and Dale traveled for 15 years in their motorhome. They had recently moved to Florida.


Terry requested cremation and there will be no public service. He is being cared for by the Cremation Society of Virginia. At a later date, his ashes will be interred at Brown Cemetery in Millersburg, Indiana.


Contributions in Terry's memory may be made to the American Heart Association or a local animal rescue/shelter.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Last evening, my loving husband of 49 years, Terry, passed away from complications of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which contributed to septic shock.




He had been in Methodist Hospital in Indy for a week, released on October 5, and we then traveled to Virginia to see our daughter Jocelyn and family before we headed back to Florida. But he developed more problems on the way to Virginia and when we arrived, I took him to the ER at UVA. They were extremely diligent and we thought the care they were giving was working. However, yesterday things started to turn for the worse and his body/heart could not maintain necessary blood pressure. They put him on 3 aggressive meds to counter this, but it still was dropping. They told me it was not likely he would live through the night even with treatment. So in accordance with his wishes, we withdrew support and continued to administer pain meds to maintain comfort. He said all he wanted to do was sleep, which he had not really done for days.  His passing was peaceful just about 45 minutes later with Jocelyn and I there. Brandon flies in today.


Terry wished to be cremated, so that will be done. With Covid still looming, I don't believe a service would be appropriate and he himself hated the entire funeral process. So he will get one last ride in Phaeton Place when I take his ashes back to Florida. My plan then is to return to Indiana next summer with the kids/grandkids to inter his ashes in Brown Cemetery, where my family is all buried. I will publish that when the time comes, but it will be next summer.


Our hearts are broken, but we are thankful we had Terry for 22 years after his heart attacks at which point they gave him 72 hours to live. It was a good life even then.


Terry Pace, 1950-2020




Monday, October 05, 2020

The best of times, the worst of times. . . , part 3

Our visits over, we made our way to central Indiana to have our final doctor appointments in Indiana, as we are changing over to Florida doctors, since we have a house there. At this point it was becoming more clear that Terry was in trouble. . . brain fog, slurring/stuttering and shuffling his feet, tremors. Long story short after setting up camp, I drove him to Methodist ER in Indianapolis, a 60 mile drive. He was admitted. It's been a roller coaster week, but really have mostly good news. He thought he may have had a stroke, but that wasn't it. They ran every test there was. The problem was that he has taken so many heart meds over the years, they have started affecting his other organs. So he was there for almost a week while they "detoxed" his body. They have changed some meds, dropped several, added one. Today he got his ICD changed out to a new improved model and he was discharged later today. Whew. I was tired of driving back and forth to Indy.


We see our GP tomorrow for the last time, then heading to Charlottesville to see our daughter and family, then home to Florida. We are following up with the heart doctor via telehealth and the liver doctor in Indy is setting up a follow up with a colleague in Tampa. So all is good. Terry is better, albeit tired, than he has been in a long time. These meds have been working on him a long time. . . like slowly being poisoned. Some he cannot take anymore. Hoping it all works out.

Hopefully with living in Florida 8-10 miles from our doctors, it will be easy to get the care he/we need quickly. We still plan to travel but that will probably be mostly in the summer. 

All things considered, we've got a lot done since we left Florida. Visited with Brandon's, lost our toad, found our toad--continued on, drove to Indiana, windshield replaced, refrigerator replaced, visited with Mom twice, visited Uncle Dan, spent a week in the hospital with Terry, but he got detoxed and on the road to recovery, got his ICD replaced and saw our internist for the last time. Busy couple weeks.

Till next time. . .

Dale