Mansplaining

Mansplaining. It is a necessary means of communication when explaining something to women. I don't think I do it. Barb thinks I do. I call it detailed information. She calls it me thinking she is stupid. For example. We needed some nuts and bolts for a part that broke off medicine cabinet in the rig the other day. She was going to the store to get some food, and I asked her if she could pick up some two small nuts and bolts while she was there. I explained to her in a loving way, that the bolts had to be long enough to reach through the items we were bolting together, yet not so long that it protruded above too far and the diameter wide enough to fit through the hole but not too wide. She was intently listening with adoring eyes. Well, that is what I thought anyways. When I was done explaining all this to her, her response was, "Do you think I am Fxxxxing stupid?" 

I was slightly confused by her response, and I did not know if I should be taking her question figurately or literally.  Thinking she was maybe having a mini bout of terrets, I decided to ignore her outburst and continued, and told her that I needed some Loctite as well since the camper rattles so much, the nut would eventually loosen and come apart from the bolt. I told her it could not just be any Loctite though, it had to be the blue, not the red. 

She grabbed the parts out of my hand, shoved them in her purse and muttered something about mansplaining was necessary because men were to stupid and walked out the door. She returned an hour or so later with nuts, bolts and the locktite exactly as I described. I went and fixed the cabinet thinking what I good job I did explaining things to her so she could get the right parts. What a good husband I am!

In fact, I am such a good husband, she has kept me around for 39 years as of last Friday. 39 years ago on that day, we snuck away from work at lunch (we worked at the same place), went to the courthouse and got married by a local judge. We went back to work the following Monday and shocked our boss who did not even know we were seeing each other by telling him we were married. He was so pleased that for a wedding present he said that we could decide which one of us was going to quit as the company had an anti-nepotism policy. 

What did we do on our special day this year? We went to The World Equestrian Center to watch some horse jumping. What an incredible venue! The grounds were immaculate, definitely a must see if you are in the area. 

After that we had lunch and I made the mistake of asking Barb what she wanted to do next. Her response almost my heart stop, "I want to go to an RV dealer and look at Class C's!".  Oh, dear Lord, I thought, but off we went to look at Class C's. I hate, hate, hate going to dealers and looking at vehicles and told Barb I am going to just stand in the background as she talks to the salesperson. It was as dreadful as you can imagine. We sat down with the salesperson at his desk while he took down all of Barb's information and they talked about what she was looking for. Then we jumped into a golf cart driving around looking at several models. They did not have the model she was looking for, nor did they have the one she was interested in on their website. Call me skeptical, but sometimes I think they put items on their website just to get you in the door, only to tell you that that unit is no longer available. When we were done, he said, "Let me grab my manager, he wants to say hi before you leave". Ugh. I get the guy has a job to do and it just trying to make a living, but I find this entire process sooooo painful! 

The remainder of the week was filled with fun activities as well. We got together with our friends Dan and Jeannie a couple of times. Dan and I got out fishing twice. Once on Noonan Lake up near Gainsville and then out on Panasoffkee Lake. 

Both were great days on the water even though the fishing was a little slow. I think between the two outings we caught 7 fish between us. I did, however, get some great photos of the local wildlife! I don't know what a lot of these birds are except the Great Blue Heron, and I think the one below is an Ibis?

While Dan and I were doing that, Barb and Jeannie were out enjoying the water as well with a 2-mile(ish) swim one day and then kayaking with the manatees the other time they went out. Barb did not have a waterproof camera with her so there are no pictures to share. I do have this picture to share though. Barb bought some new goggles and was trying them out one day outside our trailer. As she was doing it, our neighbor decided to come over and introduce herself at that very moment. Do you think Barb took off the googles? Nope, Barb proceeded to sit there and have a conversation with her with the goggles on, stickers and all. I am sure she walked away thinking she was parked next to a couple of whack-a-dos!

We got out to eat at several area restaurants. Our favorite so far is The Freezer in Homosassa, we have been there several times over the years, we always get the steamed shrimp, delicious!

Next up is Cracker's in Crystal River, we went there with Dan and Jeannie. The food was decent and the atmosphere is pretty good. On Wednesday, it was off to Crump's Landing again in Homosasa with our friends Jim and Diana who were passing through on their way to Melborne Beach. We met via our blogs several years ago and have gotten together several times in South Dakota, Michigan and Florida over the years. The food at Crumps was very good food, we would go back there again! 

Our last dining out experience was at China Lee's buffet in Ocala. Talk about a cattle trough, all you can eat for $11.99 (weekday lunch). Again, it was very good. I did not take any pictures while there except these chopsticks. It says "kids", but I think even Dino would be able to use these!

What a difference a week can make. To think just a few days ago, we were in snowy, cold and frigid temperatures. Now, we are sunburned and bug bitten and bloated with all this delicious cuisine!

Saturday was a day of more food and drinks as we got together with our friends Mike and Liz. First we were off to The Biscuit Barn for breakfast. We spent the afternoon visiting a couple of local distilleries. Mike has 4 of them he wants to take us to while we are here. That day we checked off two; The Homosassa Distillery is a modern facility with some great tasting spirits. The owner was there and kept giving Barb a hard time as she was wearing a competitors shirt. Very nice place. 

Then it was off the Fish Hawk Distillery. This place was the total opposite of Homosassa. Where Homosassa was in town and convenient to get to, Fish Hawk was out in the sticks and hard to get to. Where Homosassa was model and clean, Fish Hawk was about as rustic as you could get. It is literally out of some guys shed and only has a covered lean to for seating. 

Regardless of their size and location, they do a good business, putting out over 32,000 bottles a year. It was a great day with Mike and Liz, one of these days we will remember to take a picture of all of us!

I also had to call Farmer Bob on Saturday as it was the last day he was going to be in the U.S. for the next 11 weeks. He is on his way to Africa for a mission trip. He does not know exactly what his role will be yet, but he will be in Kisii, Kenya helping out a church. This will be an experience of a lifetime for him, and I will try to keep up and write about his activities in the next few weeks as I am sure many of you will find it as fascinating as I do. He has been preparing for this for several months now, getting everything ready at home for his absence as well as a vaccine regiment that made him into a human voodoo doll!

I better wrap this up, I see Barb is about to see if she can find a blown fuse, I am sure she needs a man to explain to her what to do and look for! 

I will leave you with this picture of Zoey. She has been complaining that she was not in the blog the last few weeks. Here she is with her "Can I have a piece of that bacon" look. Something I see quite often!