Christmas lights at Titusvillage Section 1, December 2012

http://titusvillagesection1.com/TitusvillageChristmas2012.jpg  This link is to a collage I made for the Titusvillage website.

Click on right to view Our Titusvillage Section 1 Homeowners Association Website

2012 Florida Samboree in Eustis Fl...we were guests of Space Coast Sams

https://plus.google.com/photos/103565328419904276941/albums/5812275965659984545?authkey=CODG_7a98b3QrgE

The process…life?...is moving forward.   We’ve made contact with what we think is the closest Good Sam Club (Space Coast Sams) and have received a very informative reply to my inquiry post from their Chapter President.  We won’t be able to attend their October campout as our primary cat-sitter Joanna is heading North for Halloween festivities and to catch up, but we’ve made reservations for the Good Sams of Florida Fall Samboree in November up in  Eustis Florida.  Prior to that we’ve made reservations for a Florida “shake down” campout to Jetty Park in Port Canaveral, Oct 2^nd thru 4^th.

In the meantime we’ve set up a contractor to come in and install a small lawn sprinkler irrigation system with timers and a water holding tank  (we already have a well and external pump for watering purposes), and we’ve getting an estimate on the cost of re-doing our upper decks that need some serious attention.  Coming in here we had (through a full home inspection) a real good idea of what was good, what was bad, and what needed attention and now that we’ve sold our Preston digs we’re taking care of it one item on the list at a time.

It’s getting repetitive but we both do LOVE Florida.  This morning I spent a few hours at the Viera VA Clinic having signed up with a program to lose a few pounds if possible.  It’s great looking ahead with some real optimism, and we hope it ‘s going to be a fun winter here in the Sunshine State J. 

The fat lady has sungJ.  We actually closed on the Preston property on September 14^th, but the wire transfers won’t hit until today the 18^th as our Preston Town Hall is closed on Monday’s and the deed could not be filed until today.  It’s going to seem good NOT waiting for the phone to ring on additional problems, inspections and requests.  Anyone who tells you that selling a property is easy is either not paying attention or they’re living in a different world than we are! The adage “All’s well that ends well” is true enough though, and this post is the last you’re liable to read on our moving adventures.

When people talk about retiring to Florida, different images come to mind depending on what Florida you know.  We wintered here in Titusville for four years so we came to know the city and the area pretty good.  It’s very different living here permanently as compared to snow-birding here for the winter months, as now we’re really getting to feel a part of this community.  Our Titusvillage is a town-house Association with 88 town houses in 22 buildings.  We’re 3/10^th of a mile to the YMCA (walking, bicycling distance) and from the Y there is a nice bike path that’s a joy to ride on.  Alice likes the pool for water aerobics, and I’ve been using the weight machines and riding my bike in an effort to get more physically fit.  Living here is more conducive to that end, at least for us anyway. 

We attended our first HOA meeting a few weeks back.  I’ll be on the Board as of the coming year (2013) and I’ve set up a website for the Associationhttp://titusvillagesection1.com/ .  If you go to the photos page on the site you’ll see some snaps of some of the town houses.

Last week we put out a few tomato plants and planted a grapefruit tree and lemon bush.  Also, just for giggles I planted a few small cacti as I love them….Alice not so much.  Now that our Preston home is sold we plan on slowly finishing the furnishings here….we need to pick up some odds and ends as we didn’t feel it was necessary to bring everything from Preston with us and those moving pods only hold so much! (we had two, packed to the gills).

We haven’t camped with the rig since we moved here.  The motor home is being stored at a storage facility in Christmas Florida, about a half hour down the road on US 50.  There’s a Samboree at the Daytona International Raceway in November preceded by a National Good Sam Rally and Alice wants to look into that, but our first local campout will probably be to Jetty Park CG, on the water at Cape Canaveral.http://www.jettypark.org/  .  Our CT camping Club Seaport Sams will be heading for the Berkshires the end of this month for their last camp-out and we’re going to miss not going to Country Aire, and our good friends at Seaport.  Way back in-the-day Alice and myself started the Northward final hurrah campout, initially going to Travelers Woods on the recommendation of a good Power Squadron friend Bob Smith.  The Club went to Travelers Woods for several years, and then we migrated to Country Aire CG.  It has to have been ten years now the Club has headed north for the fall foliage…and we always enjoyed the Shelburne Falls, Greenfield area for sure.  It was always a bitter-sweet campout in that the next step after that campout was the winterization of the rig, the rig not being used again until the following April.  Another change:  We won’t be winterizing a motor home or boat…and are actually planning camping trips through the coming winter.  It works for us!! J.

Under contract.  Those two words are sweet, but as they say it’s not over until the fat lady sings and there are several inspections to be performed as the sales process progresses to closing, which will be hopefully the end of September 2012.  Our home was actively listed and on the market for 63 days.

In the meantime we’ve been making good progress in this major life transformation.  I’ve spent some quality time with the Veterans Administration at their clinic in Viera Fl, and have met my primary physician who has changed some of my meds.  I’m now officially in the VA medical system, and they seem very pro-active and competent and caring.  It looks like they are looking for their patients to take more responsibility for some things, so I’m now doing daily glucose and blood pressure readings which I’ve never had to do with the civilian physician. 

Tonight we attend our first performance since we’ve returned to town at the Titusville Playhouse.  It’s going to be a murder mystery comedy that sounds like it could be fun.  The full “Season” at the Playhouse looks good…..you can log into Facebook, search for Titusville Playhouse, and see the listing of coming attractions.

Robert R. Payette

We’ve been here in Florida now a week and a day…having arrived July 17th with bag, baggage, three cats and one Spaniel to our new town-house digs. Moving doesn’t change a lot of things….you still cook, clean, establish new routines, meet new people and catch-up with old friends but this has been an exciting and unusually hectic period in our lives. Alice has been doing a lot of the grunt work and organizing the kitchen stuff, clothes and other high effort, low-reward things that just need doing. I can retreat to my computer and pay bills, organize our life digitally and do some cooking….but I know who’s making that all possible, for sure!

A main reason for our deciding to move South was my health, which is not great. Here I’m very close to the Veterans Administration clinic in Viera and I spent a good part of yesterday there doing orientation along with some blood work. I’ll meet my primary care team the first week of August. Here in Titus Village it’s a joy to wake up early (5:30-6:00ish) and walk Kincaid in this wonderful urban environment. Rural life has its charms, but walking down a 500 foot gravel driveway to an unimproved country road gets old quick when your legs don’t work as good as they used to!
A few days back we spent some time at the local Brevard County Tax Collectors office(s) where we registered the car here in Florida and obtained Florida drivers licenses. Joanna seems to be settling in nicely with her new position in Merritt Island….it’s not perfect, nor her first choice, but it’s a starting point from which to build.
We thought we might have an issue with the holding tanks on the rig, and to be sure things were running clear we brought the rig to Manatee Hammock this morning where we pumped out, did a black-water rinse and then topped off our fuel on the way back to Christmas. All systems are go . The Hammock sure looks different in the summer than in the “high tourist” season of January thru March! Now it’s all local Floridian’s whereas in the winter tourist season it’s totally filled with folks from the Northeast, Michigan and Canada.
My only regret is we didn’t make this move a long time ago, as both Alice and myself are in hog heaven here in Titusville. If you have been thinking about a major move, but have been afraid to do it……just do it. Life’s not a rehearsal as they say.