Oh, what a beatiful day!

Water temperatures dropped 4-6° to 60° over the past 4 days. Didn't bother some people.

I realize a lot of you have had much worse weather than us. However,  living in an RV and expecting if not warm, but at least moderate temperatures and being in an area not prepared for multiple days of freezing temperatures it was not pleasant. Three nights of temperatures 20° and below with tonight, Tuesday, being near 30° and at least 1 or 2 days not much above freezing was enough.

We were fine. We insulated with reflectix everywhere we could, left a couple of cabinet doors with plumbing open, and disconnected our water and sewer to protect our RV. While it is often cheaper and easier to run electric heaters (we don't have to take our RV somewhere to get its propane tank filled), we ran the furnace to keep the underbelly and tanks warm. It ran most of the night a couple of times but they kept everything warm. We heated the RV to 67° which kept the storage and tank areas right around 50°. They say that the underbelly will be about 20° lower than the living area. We used 2-3 gallons of propane each night. The park had us drip water at the outside faucets to try and prevent their pipes from bursting.

Places down here just aren't built to withstand several nights of freezing temperatures. Our park and many cities experienced broken pipes. We had our water tank full fortunately as we had 2 days with no water but water was back here this morning. 

I finished it Dec. 26, almost in time for Christmas! I looked back at a blog on Dec. 18, 2021 and I had 30 stitches done.  I predicted that IF I completed 30 stitches a day it would take me 833 days (almost 3 years) to complete. That thought almost made me quit that day. I did not do 30 stitches a day and sometimes I went weeks inbetween working on it.  In fact, I didn't even touch it July-Sept. 

The bottom half was completed by May 30.

Now on to my stocking. It has a LOT MORE stitches than Pat's. Maybe we'll have an apartment by the time I finish it. 

We went on a road trip today. Actually we drove over an hour to Fort Walton Beach to review our insurance coverage. Vehicle insurance must be purchased in the state where your vehicle is registered so when we became Florida residents I picked an agent based on internet reviews and did everything over the phone and email. We did stop at the beach.   

We drove through Niceville. Pat's brother and his family lived here many years ago. 

The upper Gulf coast is called the Emerald Coast for it's clear, emerald-green waters.

It felt wonderful to be able to eat outside. 

The sand of Fort Walten Beach is so white and the water so clear. 

The sand looked so warm in the sun. It was not!

More sand dunes here than we've seen in other areas of the country. 

The Emerald Grand

Beaches and Golf Clubs

St. Andrew's Presbyterian church is easy to spot with it's gold steeple.

Advent Calendar Day 25: the final chocolate.

Where are the Piepers now? Bonifay FL.