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CALOOSA
WINNIES Local Chapter By Nancy Miller The Caloosa Winnies were on the road again February 2 – 5, 2006, headed to our destination, Sun Lake RV Resort at Ruskin, Florida. It was a nice, sunny day and after setting up we met at the recreation hall for Happy Hour. We were happy to welcome back from the cold north country of New York, members Bob and Anita Law. Also in attendance were Bill & Sue Fuss, Jane & Jim O’Neill, Nancy & Jerry Miller, Bud & Paula Geng, JoAnne Weber and her guest, Mary Butch. We missed our former club presidents Barb & Chuck Wood as they weren’t able to join us due to Chuck’s illness. During Happy Hour we made soup for dinner, everyone brought something to add to the pot and as it simmered we enjoyed our traditional joke telling contest. Each person was given pieces to a puzzle to put together over the weekend, which was set up on a nearby table. The puzzle experts were fast a work to accomplish the goal! Soon it was dinner time, the soup turned out great, and along with that we enjoyed salads, bread along with ice cream sundaes for dessert. The remainder of the evening we played bingo, and the winners received some of our typically great prizes! Friday morning the weather turned ugly for Florida, the sunshine state!! This is usually our dry season, but the monsoon rains commenced and lasted all day and night! On the schedule after breakfast were projects for the ladies to prepare for the March Winnie-Gators Rally. Thanks to Sue Fuss who had the idea for the note holders, our group will be doing a craft for people to make a note holder to hang on the outside of an RV for friends to leave a message. With many busy hands we accomplished the project in a short time and had some great conversation as well. We also will sell raffle tickets at the Rally for the “Wagon of Cheer” and the proceeds will go to the Winnie-Gators charity. We planned how to decorate the little car that was purchased by members Barb & Chuck Wood and will finish it closer to the Rally. Since we had soup left from the previous evening we all stayed at the recreation hall and enjoyed the leftovers. It was perfect since the weather was dark and rainy, but we were cozy inside. Some of the members worked on the puzzle, and before we knew it Happy Hour was upon us. For dinner we went to Circles Restaurant at a marina at nearby Apollo Beach and had a wonderful dinner. The rest of the evening we enjoyed playing cards. Saturday morning the rain finally stopped and breakfast was our usual pitch in meal, and it was wonderful as always. At 10:00am the business meeting was called to order, with much of the agenda contained information about the March Rally. Our chapter is also responsible for hosting the Wine & Cheese Party, which we did last year so we know our procedures quite well. Bud Geng, President of the Winnie-Gators gave us some information on this years Rally which will have many changes and new things! We’re excited to have a great agenda for all those who attend. After the meeting we had some Valentine Contests, again with some “exciting prizes” for the winners. The puzzle we had to assemble as a group was finished and we decided next time we had to graduate to a 500 piece puzzle since this one was finished so fast! One of the great advantages of joining a WIT local chapter is the information shared by everyone about maintenance. A great example of that was on Saturday, Bud Geng and Jerry Miller installed a battery filler on Jim & Jane O’Neill’s coach to make it easier for them keep the batteries in good condition. Thanks to Bud & Jerry for volunteering their expertise. We welcomed some visitors, Jack & Bunny MacGregor. They live in the area and recently bought a Winnebago and were interested in joining a group. Later in the day they decided to join and became official members of the Caloosa Winnies! Judy & Glenn Mercer, long time members of our group came to spend the day with us and it was great to see them. Judy is our official scorekeeper for bean bag baseball, so we set up the teams and had some really great fun playing the game for the afternoon. Since the teams were not equally men vs. women there still is no tie breaker to our status from last contest, so our standings remain the same at a tie. This contest is to be continued at our April campout to see who the REAL winners are! Happy Hour began at 4pm, then a ham and scalloped potato dinner was served at 5:30. With all the great side dishes made by the members we had yet another feast! The rest of the evening we played cards and had a great time. It was noted that Mary Butch, our guest won 2 games of cards and went home with some extra change in her pocket! Sunday morning we all met for breakfast of juice, donuts, coffee, rolls, and soon had to say our goodbyes. We’re looking forward to the March Rally and then our April campout near Cypress Gardens. Anyone traveling in the area, please feel free to join us at any campout! Check the “Who’s Inviting Travelers” and join in on the fun! We’d love to have you! Nancy Miller
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