A Frightfully Fun Night

Welcome to the new Hidden

Acres Estates newsletter,

River Ramblings. We are

three volunteers putting this

together to keep you up to

date and informed about

happenings around HAE.

We are glad to see the Win-

ter Residents begin to show

up. During the Summer,

those of us who were here

kept busy. We had potlucks

at the Clubhouse, appetizers

and cards at the Porch,

started a Canasta group and

other stuff. Volunteers were

busy as you will read in

other parts of the newsletter.

We had wonderful Fourth of

July and Labor Day parties.

Both parties had indoor Corn

Hole Tournaments that were

well attended. See the re-

port about the Halloween

Party in this issue.

If you have any news that

you would like to see in the

newsletter or ideas about the

newsletter, please contact

me—Maryann Erson, Alison

Smith, or Jeanie Scales. We

reserve the right to choose

the content of the newsletter

and will not accept any

anonymous submissions.

Ramblin’ on ...

We were so pleased to see

such a great turn-out at the

Porch’s Halloween Party,

Saturday the 25th. Jimmy

Suggs with some help from

Randy Lawrence did an

amazing job with the ribs

and Bob Hebert worked his

magic at the fryer. Adding

in the beans, slaw, and the

tasty pumpkin dessert, it

was a great dinner.

Entertainment for the night

was Big Freddie and Laura.

They were a big hit as usual,

playing 50s, 60s, 70s, and

some country. Great music

and a lot of dancing!

We loved seeing everyone

dressed up! Jeanie Scales

won 1st place in the costume

contest and, fittingly, Doug

Ray was number 2. Coming

in close behind was our

hippy cou-

ple, Wesley

Holden and

his girl-

friend,

Carla.

Barbara Jackson was the

lucky 50/50 winner and Dick

and Patty Gerhart walked

away with a new Drink But-

ler as their booby prize.

Thanks so much to the Porch

Witches for a frightfully fun

night!

Ramblings ...

Porch Events 2

Clubhouse Events 2

Around Town 2

A Look Back 3

Social Pages 3

A Welcoming Sign 3

Water Plant Report 4

Dock Report 4

Inside this issue:

November/December 2014

Hidden Acres Estates

Fort Basinger, Florida

RIVER RAMBLINGSRIVER RAMBLINGS

Costume Parade 2014 Our 2nd, 1st, and 3rd place

Costume Contest Winners!

DON’T FORGET! It’s time to set your clocks

back an hour.

Daylight Savings Time

ends November 2nd at

2:00 am

It’s also a great time to

change batteries in your

smoke detector!

If you’ve been in the Porch recently, you

may have noticed the fresh look. Patty

and Dick Gerhart, Jim and Beverly

Rowland, Sammi Miller, and Maryann

Erson worked all day to paint and deco-

rate. Jim Rowland created the shelves

from old boards.

For the past couple months, the Porch

has been hosting an hors d’oeuvres and

cards night on Fridays. They hope to

continue this about once a month dur-

ing season.

In November, the Porch will play host

to the Thanksgiving Potluck. The

Porch and Clubhouse will split the cost

of the Turkey. Keep an eye out for the

fliers.

Come exercise in the mornings, 8:00-

9:00, Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri. Men

and Women are welcome and encour-

aged to join in and sweat.

The annual Fireman’s Dinner will be

held December 13th. Santa will be rid-

ing on the Lorida Fire Truck through

the Park on December 6th (check for

updates!) Donations encouraged!

Make sure to keep an eye out for fliers

about the New Year’s Eve Party! And

buy your tickets early … it helps the

Porch Committee prepare and purchase

enough food.

Porch News

The Okeechobee Community Theatre

begins their 36th season with The Ser-

vice at Rocky Bluff. Showing November

7, 8, 14, and 15th at 8:00 pm with a

2:00 matinee performance on Novem-

ber 15th.

December 5th and 6th, the Theater is

celebrating the 75th Anniversary of The

Wizard of Oz. Shows are at 8:00 pm

with a 2:00 pm matinee on the 5th.

Details available in the office.

Around the Town

Thurs, and Sat

Canasta Nights, Wednesdays 7:00 pm

Bingo will be at 7:00 pm every Friday

beginning Nov 7th.

The Clubhouse will be hosting a Christ-

mas Eve Dinner for the Park.

A big THANK YOU to the volunteers

who cleaned the Clubhouse in October.

Come out Monday, Nov 24th, at 10:00

am to help decorate the Clubhouse for

the Christmas Holiday!

An early start this year, Donna Chase

hosted the monthly Potluck Dinners

beginning in Summer and has had a

wonderful turnout. 5:00 pm on the sec-

ond Tuesday of the month—bring a

favorite dish to share and socialize with

your neighbors!

The Sewing Club has recently started

again—Monday mornings at 10:00.

Join in on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 for

Bible Study.

Join in for Rummikub, 1-4 pm on Tues,

Clubhouse News

Fish Stories

Happy Fishing!

For a total of five consecutive days in

August, Dee and Joyce caught 85

bass!

More recently, they have caught

nineteen bass in one day and continue

to be “the ladies” of the River.

Rip and his brother Eddie have

caught specks and bass every time

they’ve gone out.

Jim and Beverly agree that the fish

are biting. Beverly caught a 7+

pounder just the other day! They

didn’t have a scale, but their photo is

worth a thousand words.

A New Country Look at the Porch

Page 2 Fort Basinger, Florida

Dennis Dunn, owner of Dad’s Pest

Control, will be taking over the job

of pest control for the HAE

buildings. He is also available to do

private residences, $55 every three

months. Contact office for more

details.

Fishing: The art of jigging, casting, trolling, or spinning … while freezing, sweating, swatting, or swearing!!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Riddles

1. What day does a fish hate?

2. What type of fish plays cards?

3. Where do fish keep their money?

4. What’s slippery, lives in the sea,

and likes Dean Martin?

(Answers on page 3!)

Doug Ray shared an old clipping from

1989 highlighting a photo from the

HAE Christmas Party’s Hayride, being

led by two matching Percherons—

horses resembling a larger Clydesdale.

(A copy of the full article is in the of-

fice.) How many of our residents re-

member these old parties?

Mika Reijonen, who is currently rent-

ing lot 188 with his wife, has officially

been hired as our new maintenance

employee. His working days are

Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30 am-4:00 pm.

Mika was born in a small town in

Finland, about the size of Okeecho-

bee. He moved to Florida about 24

years ago and has lived in the Miami

and Ft Lauderdale areas but feels

more at home in the smaller towns of

Okeechobee and now at HAE.

He’s been doing a wonderful job.

Please make him feel welcome!

Please welcome our newest residents:

Lot 14, Arnold and Janet Lord. Residents of the Royal Palm

area, they plan to spend their weekends at HAE, fishing.

Lot 30, Jody Ray. Son of Doug and Sharon Ray, is no

stranger to the Park.

Lot 40, Chris and Michelle Wainwright, along with their 7

year old son, Garette. They reside in Pompano Beach and

look forward to their get-a-ways at HAE.

Lot 49, Maryann Erson. She moved from Okeechobee and is

enjoying her new porch with Peet!

Lot 111, Deanna Heikkinen and Kevin Peach. Kevin is the

son of Janet Peach-Dishman; Deanna recently sold her

house in Michigan and they are making HAE their home.

********************************************************

Rip Ballard’s brother, Eddie, and his wife Mary Frances

visited the park for a month in October. It’s always good to

see them and we look forward to their next visit.

Marti Wiley will be visiting the Park beginning in November

and staying for the season.

Dave and Sherry Braglin will be having their friends, John

and Marilyn Sloan, as well as their daughter Anna and her

husband Jeff McCombs visiting for the Christmas/New

Years holidays.

********************************************************

A special congrats to Bob and Penny Hebert who will be

celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Nov 14.

They will be enjoying a cruise together and we wish them all

the best!

It’s been a long time coming but the talking is finally over!

A beautiful and detailed sign is

situated at the entrance to the

Park to help visitors and emer-

gency personnel. The Porch and

the Clubhouse graciously agreed

to split the costs of the printing

and installation. A huge THANK

YOU to Jim Rowland, Sam Scales,

and Mika Reijonen for installing

the sign. Printing was done by

The Sign Guy in Okeechobee.

Color Proofs for personal use are

available in the office.

A welcoming Sign

Crockpot River Roast:

3 lb Chuck Roast

1 dry envelope each of: Italian Dressing Mix, Ranch Dressing

Mix, and Brown Gravy Mix

Combine the 3 packets into 2 cups of water.

Mix well and pour over Roast in Crockpot.

Cook on Low for about 8 hours.

Makes a nice gravy with the Roast!

You may add onions on top of Roast as well

The Lorida News-Sun from Dec 20, 1989

Park Sign

Page 3 RIVER RAMBLINGS

Riddle Answers:

1. Fry Days; 2. Card Sharks; 3. In a Riverbank; 4. That’s a moray

A Look Back A New Addition

Social Pages

River Ramblings is a newsletter published by volunteers re-

siding at Hidden Acres Estates in Fort Basinger, Florida.

These volunteers are: Maryann Erson, Jeanie Scales, and Al-

ison Smith. The opinions expressed are those of the authors

and contributors and not necessarily those of HAE. Contents

2014 by River Ramblings. No portion may be duplicated

without express permission of the editorial staff. The fund-

ing of this publication is totally by donation and no portion is

derived from the general member funds or assessments.

Primary Business Address 964 County Road 721 Lorida, FL 33857

Hidden Acres Estates

This past summer, all aluminum docks

were pressure cleaned by volunteers.

Floating dock repairs for Section E and

D have been started. The walkouts of

both docks have been completed. The

docking fingers are still in progress and

the repairs will resume soon. They

hope to have everything completed

early 2015.

Phone: 863-763-8266 Fax: 863-467-4044 E-mail: hae964@centurylink.net

Due to continuous unacceptable read-

ings under DEP standards, it was nec-

essary to find a resolution for our fresh

water system to prevent HAE from be-

ing fined and/or shut down.

After an intense study by engineers and

chemists, it was found that our previ-

ous filtration system was not adequate

based upon the volume of water being

used and it organically contaminated

our underground aqua filter system. It

was determined that we’d have to re-

move our old filtration system and in-

stall a new one.

This was accomplished and our water

readings have never been better!

Water Plant Report

Newsletter E-mail: RiverRamblings964@gmail.com

Dock Report

Ernie Scofield is our current

Certified Pool Technician. The

pool has never looked better—even

Michele at the Highlands Health

Department has agreed! Mika will

be taking over the general

maintenance of the pool and

eventually be certified himself.

REMINDERS: Lot numbers should be on trailers, golf carts, and boats.

Keep idle speed in and out of marina

Speed limit in the park is 10 mph

Stop at the stop sign

Turn off water (and water heater) when leaving for a long time

Make sure boat and trailer registrations are current

If you would like to share something with your neighbors,

feel free. Drop a note or send an e-mail to:

RiverRamblings964@gmail.com

Remember, no anonymous letters will be printed or an-

swered. River Ramblings reserves the right to edit as neces-

sary for brevity and grammar. This newsletter is supported

solely on member donations not from the Association.

Your friendly neighborhood

newsletter staff, hard at work!

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