Halloween 🎃 BLUE MOON 🌝 2020

Good morning. We were both up in the middle of the night, for some unknown reason. I went back to bed at five but Mark stayed up. 🎃 

Happy Halloween y’all! It’s a rarity, this one, as it is the second full moon in the month of October making this Halloween a blue moon. It’ll be extra bright for the ghosts and goblins! The last time there was a full moon in all time zones on All Saints Eve was in 1944. There was a full moon on Halloween in 2001 but only visible in the central and Pacific time zones. The next full moon on Halloween that will be visible worldwide is expected to be in 2077. Our weather is spectacular here in Central Florida. This morning it is 61° and sunny.

We hope you have a spooktacular evening

Tails up for fun

Little Bo Peep Maggie



Jack-o-Pupper 

I spent the day catching up on laundry, and addressing Christmas cards. It felt good to get the addresses on and things started. Actually, some of them are even stamped and ready to go. Yay me. I am sending out a few more than usual, as it’s been an unusual year. With some, I haven’t seen them in months.

Did I mention that the Mounty’s radiator developed a leak? Well, he ordered one online and is now struggling with it in the driveway. I couldn’t believe it but delivery took 24 hours to arrive at our door. Amazing service. 

After my work was finished, I took the dogs for a long golf cart ride around the entire neighborhood. There are a lot of Halloween decorations up, surprising.

Friday, October 30, 2020

Good evening. We just came in from sitting on the front porch, enjoying drinks and an almost full moon. Wayne and LaDonna picked up food at Stavros and came over for dinner this evening. We ate all fancy in the dining room!  We had a fun night. 

We started out at 61° this morning, Rose to 77  during the day and tonight was back down into the 60s. LaDonna needed a blanket to sit outside this evening while the guys smoked cigars. Wayno took a pic of her wrapped like a burrito. Ha! 

The poor old Mountie had a problem today. Mark went to do a favor for Rose & Jim and when he came back, a radiator leak. Oh noooo ... sooo, a new radiator has been ordered! 

That’s it for today! 

Are you ready for a BLUE MOON HALLOWEEN? 

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Good morning! After a quick round of chores we were both absorbed in our projects. Mark is removing another old boathouse pillar ... knocked this one over in 1 piece! 

Kaboom! I ran outside to check on Mark. 

I watched a video on watercolor pencils and crayons then tackled a self portrait painting. It’s harder to do than it looks! 

I think more shading is needed !

Maybe a smile would help 😂

Today at 7 o’clock we went to Pat & Ken’s for our usual group gathering. I was the only one who got completely in the pool, Markymark was in, but really never swam. It was 82° and I thought it was just right. I was in for nearly 3 hours! I’m going to sleep very well tonight. 😂

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Good morning sunshine! It’s a sticky day here ahead of Friday’s (forecast)  cold front. Today we’re meeting RanDawn for lunch at the new Tiki Hut at Hurricane’s! Hope it’s not too hot to enjoy ourselves! We haven’t seen Randy for his birthday yet ... so we have a bag of goodies for him! 

November 9th will be RanDawn’s 4th wedding anniversary (I know! FOUR years already?)  I wrapped the painting ... hope they like it! 

It’s now after 6 o’clock and Randy and Dawn have just left for home. We had such a fun afternoon with them, plenty of laughs as we always do. Lunch at Hurricane’s was great. We had a table far away from everyone and outside with a view of the water. Randy tried the Impossible burger and thought it was wonderful. I’m going to try it next time as it was only 420 cal. That’s a far cry from my steak burger at 1250 cal. It was nice and breezy, and certainly cool enough. We had a great afternoon.

Hurricane’s docking area and Dead River in the background. The best waitresses wore masks ... good service ... great food. 


The Tiki Bar was happening ... so we sat on the opposite side! Nice place! 

After lunch, RanDawn came back to the house to open Randy‘s presents and their anniversary art.

Charleston’s Rainbow Row  ...  they both loved it ... lots of personalized numbers within the acrylic painting itself. 

For our anniversary, we got a beautiful card, a bottle of chocolate wine, a red diamond wine and a cute shelf plaque for my artsy fartsy area. Thanks so much! ❤️

We had a great day! 

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Good morning. Everything‘s going like clockwork here. Ha. I woke up to the sound of gurgling from our air conditioner, the main air conditioner for the house. That’s never a good sign. Once Mark got up he checked it out and low and behold, the whole friggin thing is frozen up again. We went through this last month, had a Freon charge, and a thorough cleaning. I guess we are back to square one. And, wouldn’t you know it, it’s going to be a hot day here in Central Florida for end of October. Crap. It’s a darn good thing we didn’t go out for an expensive dinner last night, as we’re going to be donating that saved money to the AC man! 

Well, our coils are leaking freon into the house! 🤔 That can’t be good ... and the fan quit. Our man Rory is doing some figuring for us ... meanwhile, he charged the system and put a new compacitor. That’ll keep us cool for now. 

I finish the painting today and put it in a frame, already for Randy and Dawn tomorrow. We are meeting them for lunch and then they are coming back here for a visit. We’re looking forward to it, we don’t get to see them as often as we used to because of this Covid 🦠. 

That was our day. 🥰

Monday, October 26, 2020

Good afternoon sunshine! It’s our 26th wedding anniversary! Happy happy to us 🥂 🍾 

Today’s fun is a boat ride ... champagne ... ribeye steaks and cute cards. Due to 🦠 we’re celebrating 🥳 at home! 

In 1994, Bill Clinton was President, the average yearly salary was $37,000, I was a Realtor and Mark an apprentice elevator constructor. We lived in a big 2 story pool home in Boca Raton with little Matt, Candy Bear, a Springer spaniel and Beachbum, a cockatiel. Oh yes, and a big aquarium! 

It was 1994 when the world wide web was created ... and I bought my first home computer for $3,000 on HSN. The hit movie was Forest Gump ... and Elton John had ‘the’ song 

We saw a waning gibbous moon from the Crown Princess in St. Thomas harbor and dined with two couples we no longer remember and had our picture taken by many who don’t know who we are. 😂 We no longer own a DVR to play our anniversary video. 🤷‍♀️ The times have certainly changed, and we are certainly still in love. ❤️

LaDonna and Wayne joined us for a two hour boat cruise, and she took this cute picture of Ms. Bee ...

Happy pup! 

Robs sat with Wayne through the Dora Canal. There were hundreds of birds all around the canal today. It was beautiful to see them! 

Back at home, Mark and I enjoyed a steak dinner rather than going out to celebrate. It was a wonderful day. Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Good morning. It’s very early, Mark has gone hunting with Bob and I am working on the painting for Randy and Dawn. We had to wake Robbie up to take them out for a potty this morning. Ha ha. He was sound asleep upside down in his bed with his bare belly showing. We could’ve left him sleeping, but he would’ve missed his early morning walk with Mark.

Last night we heard from Rick M. ... Kelowna had a foot of snow. Back in August I predicted an early winter, and apparently I wasn’t wrong. It’s very unusual to see snow around in October. Yes, I’m happy to be living in Florida. Pam has had snow in Minneapolis since mid October! We used to say October 31 in Winnipeg, but that is no longer true. The seasons are changing! 

I spent my day working on the painting, hoping it will be ready for Wednesday. Mark and Bob were home about noon from the woods. They didn’t see anything today, not even squirrels. That is so strange. 

Tonight, we are having LaDonna and Wayne plus Markymark and Lani over for a bonfire. It was supposed to be in the low 60s tonight but instead it’s going to be 71. Oh well, we’ll just have to sit further back. 🔥🤣

Mark went to the grocery store today to pick up a pumpkin. I just wanted to carve one for our fireside gathering tonight. At Winn-Dixie, most of the people were NOT wearing masks! Mark said the store was crowded with folks all gussied up from church! Anyway, he went for a pumpkin and a box of wine for me ... and came home with a pumpkin and a box of wine for himself. 🙄

My carver! Cute pumpkin coming up! 

We certainly need a change of leader ship to get this virus 🦠 under control. It’s absolutely ridiculous that the people are following the great orange one’s lead of not wearing a mask! Yesterday, Kim, Bob, Markymark and Lani went out for breakfast by boat. Then, they went to watch the Trump boat parade on Lake Dora. After that, they went downtown Eustis for the ribbon cutting ceremony for Ferran Park. During all this they were social distancing and wearing a mask. Then, someone got the bright idea to go to Tillys for a bite to eat. There they were derailed, sat 20 minutes in a crowded restaurant with no one wearing masks. They decided to leave, but they could have been exposed during that short time! Mark and I are flabbergasted by them. Bob and Kim are not joining us tonight, as they have not been social distancing. Markymark and Lani, will have to sit far far away from the rest of us this evening. 

Lani brought a cool munchy hors d’oeuvre ... 

It’s called Pumpkin Barf! Haha ... it was very tasty. 

We want to sit by the fire too! 💕🐾

We had a fun evening! Our little pumpkin 🎃 was glowing, a smallish bonfire 🔥 and good company! LaDonna brought a platter of delicious brownies.  It’s now 12:30ish and time for bed. The Scotties sat outside for an hour with us ... 

Mz Bee sat on Wayno’s lap. ❤️

 

Bwahahaha! In the ditch! Let’s hope this is where the Trump campaign and presidency ends up. In the drink on November 3rd!

🙏🏻 🇺🇸 Biden/Harris 

Following up on the LaDonna and Wayne’s tater tot bean bag, this is today’s growth.

Holy hot potato! 😂

Saturday, October 24, 2020

Good afternoon. Our American news regarding COVID-19 is very grim. The statistics show a runaway sprint with more than 83,757 new cases overnight. And, of course, this number only includes those people who could afford testing. It does not count those asymptomatic or Americans who are laying at home dealing with it themselves because they have no health insurance. The last 4 years have brought a black plague of  Trump’s lack of leadership. At this point, his  deplorables would never adhere to a mask mandate. 

OK, that said, let me tell you a funny story about last night. Our friends LaDonna and Wayne had us over for an anniversary dinner celebration. The two of them were in their beautiful kitchen with all shiny appliances creating chicken Parmesan for us. we had a Prosecco toast in lovely flutes, followed by plenty of wine ... then a ring at the doorbell.

LaDonna sprinted to the door, coming back pushing a massive box through the house. It obviously weighed a lot as she was having trouble pushing it. Mark went to help, picked it up and hauled it to LaDonna‘s art room. While all this was going on, Wayne was serving salad and Parmesan bread. LaDonna explained she had ordered a beanbag chair for her and their 3-year-old granddaughter, Henley, to relax in.  LaDonna finds it terribly uncomfortable to sit on the floor with her and thought the beanbag would be a comfortable compromise. 

After salad and bread, before the main course of chicken Parmesan over fettuccine, LaDonna cut open the box; she and Wayne pulled it out into the center of the art room. Mark mentioned that the dogs would love playing in the box. So between courses Wayne made a dog house out of the box and tossed a few croutons in there. Well that was all lots of fun for Robs and Bee. During the dinner main course, I had a peripheral view of the beanbag ... growing exponentially! I mentioned I could see it getting bigger by the minute! LaDonna read the instructions and it said it would take 3 to 5 days to fully expand. Wayne started to worry and thought he would have to add another room onto the house. Lots of laughs.

LaDonna looks like a little person next to this giant beanbag chair. this was freshly out of the box.

So this morning, we got a video from them. Apparently the chair had grown so large they had to haul it into their family room and then took a video. I don’t see able to run a video on the blog, so here’s a picture, worth 1000 words. Ha ha ha.

Now that thing is massive! And, it has another three or four days to grow! 😂 

On the homefront, Mark is removing the old boathouse posts, something he’s wanted to do for awhile!

There were never any anchors holding the post. It was just standing there. I can’t believe we didn’t lose it in one of the 4 hurricanes back in 2004! 😅

Me? I’m working on a painting for RanDawn’s 4th anniversary ... trying to have it ready by the 9th. Right now, it’s coffee break and time to take the kids for a golf cart ride.

 

Friday, October 23, 2020

Good morning. It looks like a nice start to our day. The only annoying thing is I hear our neighbor cutting his grass early. The house is so quiet, otherwise I would never have noticed. Mark has gone hunting with Bob and will be enjoying the cool woods this morning.

I recently read this and thought about how it would change lives.

I asked a friend who has crossed 70 & is heading towards 80 what sort of changes he is feeling in himself? He sent me the following:

1 After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children and my friends, I have now started loving myself.

2 I have realized that I am not “Atlas”. The world does not rest on my shoulders.

3 I have stopped bargaining with vegetable & fruit vendors. A few pennies more is not going to break me, but it might help the poor fellow save for his daughter’s school fees.

4 I leave my waitress a big tip. The extra money might bring a smile to her face. She is toiling much harder for a living than I am.

5 I stopped telling the elderly that they've already narrated that story many times. The story makes them walk down memory lane & relive their past.

6 I have learned not to correct people even when I know they are wrong. The onus of making everyone perfect is not on me. Peace is more precious than perfection.

7 I give compliments freely & generously. Compliments are a mood enhancer not only for the recipient, but also for me. And a small tip for the recipient of a compliment, never, NEVER turn it down, just say "Thank You.”

8 I have learned not to bother about a crease or a spot on my shirt. Personality speaks louder than appearances.

9 I walk away from people who don't value me. They might not know my worth, but I do.

10 I remain cool when someone plays dirty to outrun me in the rat race. I am not a rat & neither am I in any race.

11 I am learning not to be embarrassed by my emotions. It’s my emotions that make me human.

12 I have learned that it's better to drop the ego than to break a relationship. My ego will keep me aloof, whereas with relationships, I will never be alone.

13 I have learned to live each day as if it's the last. After all, it might be the last.

14 I am doing what makes me happy. I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to myself. Happiness is a choice. You can be happy at any time, just choose to be!

I decided to share this for all my friends. Why do we have to wait to be 60 or 70 or 80, why can't we practice this at any stage and age?

I borrowed this. I don't know who to credit it to, but thank you!

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Good morning y’all ... it’s Randy’s birthday! 

We sent him a rockin’ singing 🎤 birthday greeting at 7 a.m. (Much appreciated, we bet!) 😂  Our wishes for a great day and wonderful year ahead! 😍🎂. We have plans to see RanDawn at Hurricane’s next week. (Due to COVID19 ... we no longer go out during the busier weekend.) 

Our Robbie has discomfort this morning, probably an itchy belly from being shaved. Poor wee guy. He doesn’t understand what he did to make us take him to ‘that big place.’ Mark is putting a bit of Gold Bond on him before he gets breakfast! Hope that helps. 

Here’s the latest find in the diabolical year 2020 ... 

Driving a car over it did nothing to hinder the bug. 😂 It won’t be too friendly to we humans after experiencing car tires! Are these the real aliens? 

Then, if that’s not bizarre enough, Iran has joined the ‘let’s re-elect the idiot reality show host’ along with, of course. the ruskies!

What a 💩 ⛈. Decipher that! 😁 (Mark put on Fox News for a few minutes this morning ... which amped up my anxiety meter immediately!) I’m going to hibernate and make art right after my chores are finished. 😅  

Sue and Wayne are still experiencing heavy rain in their area. Central Florida seems to be only the sunny part of the Sunshine State today! 

Mark went grocery shopping while I finished my housework and dusting. There is just the groceries to unload and haul into the house ... then I’ll get working on RanDawn’s anniversary pressie. 

Well look what Mark found in our boathouse today!

Yeah! That’s a hornet next to a dime! 


What the heck? Any idea why it’s so yuge???

Well, our friend Long Wayno researched and discovered that these are cicada killer wasps. Known as gentle giants and (usually) harmless to humans. Whew! I thought I was about to have nightmares. Ha ha.

Well, our little guy Robbie is still in discomfort. We think it could be from being on his back with his legs tied down while the vet did the ultrasound. We just gave him a baby aspirin with his dinner and hope that helps. Poor guy. 

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Good morning! The anticipated specialty vet appointment is finally at hand. We’ll be leaving home shortly ... and both dogs wonder why we’ve forgotten their breakfast! (It’s packed ... they’ll enjoy a picnic after Robbie’s appointment and tests. 

It was surprising we found the UF Small Animal Hospital as Google was limited help and Garmin tried to take us to Tampa! 😂 In the end, Siri got us there! Once there, we signed in thinking we’d meet the vet, you know, business as usual. 🤷‍♀️

After checkin at the main desk with 6’ plexiglass surrounds, a tech came and put a tag around Robbie’s neck and away he went, Robs back-peddling all the way. We felt awful; didn’t expect that! We were sent back to our truck to await a phone call; COVID19 protocol. Anyway, Nathan called within 20 minutes and asked many questions, plus I’d given him Rob’s complete history file. 

Nathan took the info to Dr. Gallagher and they researched together. Half an hour later, the doctor phoned and went over his thoughts 💭 in great detail. He suggested we do a yearly ultrasound on Robbie to keep an eye on his liver to watch for any developing  tumors.  The ALK Phos liver enzymes can be compromised if the bile ducts slow down. - gallbladder sludge. There is a Scottie “thing” that affects the adrenal glands and is a precursor making them predisposed to liver cancer but, it’s a very slow growing cancer. By doing a yearly ultrasound we could keep on top of it and if anything was seen just have that one lobe removed. The prognosis on that if it came to it, is 4 to 5 years. As Dr. Gallagher said, they usually die of something else.  We agreed that an ultrasound would be done, scheduled for 2:45 today. So ... 

We took a drive to Michael’s where I stretched my legs for a few minutes and bought some art pencils and a sharpener. (The old 10 cent plastic one was hacking up my pencils!) Next was a stop at Lowes for softener salt ... then Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee. 

Back at the UF parking lot we finally got a call ... Robbie had to be sedated for the Ultrasound but ... 

there were NO masses - no tumors!  Totally breed related was Dr. Gallagher’s findings. What a relief! 😅 We will certainly mark the calendar and have a blood panel and ultrasound done at the UF Hospital next year. It was a long day but much better than going from office to office looking for answers and not having a specialist to review everything. This was the way to go. $529 👍🏻

We picked up Robbie and headed home at 4 o’clock. Fueled up da Dodge for $37 ... should be home by 6:45. 

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Good afternoon. We just had a little rain, right after we put the rig into the RV port. That was pretty good timing. Mark was up early and went hunting with Bob today, but saw nothing. They are enjoying being out in the cool air and at one with nature.

Me? Well, I’ve gotten my Christmas card envelopes all addressed, probably the earliest I’ve ever done that. Yay me! 

We’re having a busy week here, and tomorrow we are off to Gainesville for Robbie’s appointment with a vet internist. Just gathering the paperwork and making a list of his diet, meds etcetera was a task. We sure hope the little guy will get a thorough review and get us answers for handling with his blood work issues. Fingers crossed 🤞 🐾💕.

Thanks to Dennis W for this funny. Yeah! Just wear the ding dang dong mask already! 🐾💕

So it wasn’t just us who were disgusted with the last presidential debate. Changes have been made to mute the candidate who is not being asked the question. Finally, someone has an answer. Ha! 

Aunt Jane called this evening. All’s fine there ... just had a good chat. She’s hoping her daughter will be able to visit soon. Little BoBo is doing fine. Then my friend Anita checked in. Her husband had sciatic nerve pain but otherwise all’s well with John and Anita and their two Shih Tzu’s. 

Karate 🥋 kicks butt 

Who got the bath? Mark, Robbie or BeeZee? 

Fair warning ... toilet paper wars are coming to your bathroom soon! 

Monday, October 19, 2020

Good afternoon. We took the RV in to Giant this morning for  it’s annual warranty maintenance service requirements. It was all done about 1230 so Mark went to pick us up some lunch while I paid the bill. We hooked up to the rig, ate some burgers then headed on home. It’s good to get it done, and the form mailed in. This is a lifetime warranty we have, so we don’t want to mess it up by being late doing it or mailing in the form. It was one of the considerations in buying a new rig from GRW. They are the only dealer that offers this. Some RVers feel it’s too expensive to do the maintenance to keep up the warranty, but in my mind, that is maintenance that needs to be done to keep the rig in good repair. 

Aurelia sent us a couple of funny pictures from the vice presidential debate a week or so ago.

I think everyone saw the flight on vice president Pence his head. But I don’t think everyone saw the next pic caption ... 


Hahaha ... love it!!! RBG ... 😍

Back at home, the dogs were pretty tired and went into their naps right away. We would like to have done that too but there were many things to get finished. We had left home pretty early.

Dr. Fauci has pretty much put the kibosh on our regular Thanksgiving festivities. We agree with him and must adhere to it in this strange year of 2020. I suggested to Sue we could meet at Grand Oaks, (the horse farm) and have an outdoor picnic Thanksgiving get together. Outdoors is OK with social distancing. At this point, they declined. Of course they really have just gotten home and may still be sorting out. We’ll see ... maybe it’s THE year to really switch it up! No turkey! No cranberry! Let’s enjoy a prime rib roast instead! And, those yummy potatoes cooked around the roast in a blue enameled roaster! 

Do you wonder if this pandemic is meant to bring humanity into a gentler era? It’s going to be around a long time ... this was a poster from the ‘50’s

That’s it for today. 😷  🧼  🖐 🤚  🥰