Stauffers of Florida

We awoke this morning to a gradual cessation of rain.  News reports said we had received up to 9 inches of the liquid snow since yesterday morning and the third dripping evidence of the storm appeared inside FROG when we entered the galley.  Slowly, drip by drip, water was leaking off the handle of the TV antenna raising device in the ceiling by the refrigerator door.  It was time for some blessings to balance the burdens and as Mona took her shower, they did.

I received a call and an email from the UMC of North Merritt Island, Florida. Karen, their Administrator, and Pastor Joel, are happy to have us stay with them for a week or so.

Audubon Road, along the Banana River, the closest a non-VIP can get to the launch pads at Cape Canaveral, is only one mile east of their parking lot.  If she flies, we’ll see the ORION go up next Thursday… Mona still says, “From the bedroom window and in her bed”.

Our second blessing was from Coastal RV in Cocoa, Florida.  They can take a look next Wednesday at the leaks we still have and hopefully ID and plug them. And answer some questions about our battery usage and some play in the rear slide hydraulic system as well.

Today we took a one hour drive southeast to Osteen, Florida, where an acquaintance of my earliest SKH (Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill) days resides and manages his business.  Rick Stauffer, son of Earl and Linda Stauffer, and wife Lynn live in a nearly 6,000 square foot home and small farm where they raise breeder Brahma cows and invite kids and grand kids to ‘come on down’ to Florida.

Their daughter (I did it again!!!  So sorry I did not write down your name dear!!!)    and son-in-law Christian, and their two boys, Aiden and  Dominique were with them and we had a great lunch together.  We talked for hours about old times at SKH, and since.

Rick and his partner live near each other northeast of Orlando in what Rick calls ‘old Florida’; small paved or sand roads and miles of wooded or jungle land.  And farms.

Their company brokers produce from growers to food retailers down here, and grows on about 1500 acres up in Pennsylvania to sell directly to the retailer.

The Stauffers love animals.  Rick has pet birds, and he and Lynn claim their big bull mastiff, BO, and two pup herding dogs whose breed I cannot pronounce, as family.

  

The grandsons love pets too.  Black widow spiders, tree frogs and snakes seem to top their list this week.

We headed north to pick up some groceries and make dinner in the coach.  When we arrived home a note taped to the door invited us to join Pastor Ken and family at the next door parsonage for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow if we had no plans.

Of course we have plans.  We’ve been invited to join the McDowell’s for their family Thanksgiving at the River Grill, on the Halifax River near Daytona Beach.

So Ken invited us to stop over on Friday morning just to chat.  He has Pennsylvania connections, and his daughter wears a Penn State Sweat Shirt, Matt Kessler!

-Ken