Sunday February 28, 2021

Good early morning! Wow ... nice moonlight for painting middle of the night. I couldn’t sleep so finished a little painting that was on my mind, leftover from Christmas. Now it’s back to bed. 😂

Well it’s now 1023 and you must’ve thought I had become rip van winkle. Ha ha. I painted today and Mark puttered around the yard. There was supposed to be a launch of the rocket tonight, but in the last minute it was canceled. Darn it, we were standing on the street waiting to watch along with Lani and Markymark.

This was today’s artsy farts he fun. Actually, I learned what I will not follow on collages. I guess that’s what it’s all about, learning what works for you and what doesn’t.

Mark and I had happy hour on the front porch after dinner, as it was pretty warm here today. It was still 80° at 7:30. Anyway, we’ve been enjoying a nice walk with the dogs after dinner every night. That’s it for today, I will try and be more diligent with the blog tomorrow. 🥰

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Good evening. It’s been a beautiful day with a high of 80°. Mark began his morning by removing the window screens and washing them. The screens are not going back on, we’re going to enjoy clean view bare windows. 

Dawn called to say they were going boating and had an extra Italian sub ... a nice surprise. They came over by boat about noon and we had our lunch together. When they left, they went to visit one of the fellows Randy enjoys golfing with. (They didn’t get home until 6 o’clock.) 😂

It was a fun afternoon! 

We finished the subs for dinner ... then walked the Scotties. It was still 80 at 6 o’clock. 

Sue sent a couple pictures of their gang ... 

Mimi and Chiki watched an opossum outside. 

Where’s SHP in this picture? 

Meanwhile, Diane is enjoying little guy Beau. He checked out fine at the vet and is now on Heartgard. Beau is eating well and learning the ropes at his new home. 

Apparently Beau is training Diane ... here’s what she wrote me ...

“Beau could hardly walk, his nails were so long! We've  just done his 2nd trim on them & Kris shaved off some of the hair. Beau's back feet are so tiny! Kris got the front paws pretty good,  but then Beau was done. 2nd trim really helped, but several more to go. His personality is emerging. He's a stubborn little guy,  but so cute. I was going to take him out to pee in the back yard last night. Beau went & sat at the Front door  & wouldn't move! 😄 Yep, we went out front! And, he pees walking on 2 front legs sometimes! Hilarious!”

Belle is taking her time to warm up to him, bit jealous maybe. 

The diva stare. 😂



Cuteness overload! What a charmer. 🐾💕

That’s it for tonight! Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Friday, February 26, 2021

Good afternoon. I’ve been working on a painting of Donnelly house, an old Victorian style home that is now the Masonic Temple in downtown Mount Dora, Florida. I fell in love with this house 20 years ago when I first saw it, painted a picture in watercolor, and finally finished it in multimedia. I’m happy with how it turned out.

Mark will put it into the frame now and we will decide where it is going to grace our home.

You know me, I’ve been missing my ancient aliens show since we cut the cord on TV two years ago. Well, I found it on Philo ... yay!!! 

While we were front porch sitting, Mark went outside to turn the tree light on when an owl silently swooped past his head! Here he is on top of the light pole with the full moon behind. 

It’s Ancient Aliens time noe. Ta ta 

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Happy 10th Birthday dear granddaughter  Izzy 🎶 

We hope she likes her pressie ... a Bluetooth speaker, light ... 

Izzy is getting a new phone from the parents. 

This afternoon, Mark and I took the Scotties and went for a long boat ride. There were hundreds of boats around, well maybe not hundreds, but certainly a lot. Ha ha. We went Lake Eustis through the Dora Canal and over to see the new seaplane base and boat docks at Tavares. The paddlewheel dinner cruise vessel, the Dora Queen, was there. The new dock over by the big pavilion is a lovely curved one. It’s going to be beautiful and should be finished very soon.

Enjoying all the birds and boats in the Dora Canal. 

The Dora Queen 

We came home and napped for an hour! 😂. After dinner of salad and lobster bisque we had a walk. It was a perfect day. 

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Good afternoon y’all. It’s been a gorgeous day here with plenty of sunshine! I’ve done 2 paintings today ... the first one met with disaster ... a botched image transfer. 😂 So, I started the replacement one after lunch. It’s not as intricate, but it’s done. 

Meh, not my best, but interesting. 

Mark worked on the RV today, painting some undercarriage areas. There’s always something needing attention. Our next adventure is to south Florida and visit with family. 

This evening we’re having a bonfire ... hope it’ll be cool enough tonight. 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Good morning. I hope everyone is waking up on this lovely Tuesday with an attitude to enjoy the day. Mark has gone grocery shopping, I tidied the house and am ready to help unpack the groceries. After that, I will be playing with my acrylic inks, trying to make a crazy portrait. This weeks lesson does not allow you to use any reference, just draw a face looking to the right and down.  No cheating, no peeking of a picture to follow. Yikes. That is a tough angle to get. Anyhow, it is now sketched and after the grocery fun, I shall open my inks Mark bought me at Christmas and get to it.  

Exit, stage right ... it has to dry before the next 🎶 inky stinky parle vous 🎶 layer. 😂 

Done ... fun!!! 

Mark’s aunt Jane moved to the assisted living at the Cove. It’s pretty hard on her, and the family, as no visitors are allowed. They can’t go in to see what her room look is like or to help get things organized. A nurse does that! Mark said she didn’t know who he was yesterday, so things have changed drastically. I am so happy Diane and Kris  are enjoying having Beau! Poor guy has been through a lot before family arrived from Buffalo to help. Jane doesn’t remember her Beau now. Mark said he thought the end was near. So very sad. 

It was a beautiful day. Mark took the kids for a ride on the golf cart and then tonight we sat on the front porch while he smoked a cigar and we drank wine. It sure is nice seeing lights on over at Markymark and Lani’s place. Randy and Dawn phoned a little bit earlier. It was doctor day for them. Randy had a painful hematoma drained on his forearm. Everything is fine ... and he has no idea how he got it. Dawn is fine.

The K’s continue with 4 dogs ... Aubrey looks to be healing well. 

It’s playtime with Shorty making a break for it. Haha. 

Monday, February 22, 2021

Good morning. Mz B had us up at 5o’clock to go 💩 out back. We are sure glad she is feeling better. Hopefully, we can get her onto the same schedule as Robbie. We have cut down on the amount of her food, and made it very bland. It is still human food and for her, very tasty. Mark went back to bed and I got up to work on my painting of the Donnelly house in Mount Dora. I actually painted this 25 years ago when Sue and I took a watercolor art course in Boca Raton. As it turned out, the instructor took sick the very first day and a substitute was brought in. She was lovely, but not a watercolorist. Anyway, I don’t know what happened to the picture Sue painted, but I had mine framed. All these years later I decided to take it apart and refresh it. 

Today, Mark is going to help aunt Jane’s son Rick move some furniture out of her villa into the assisted living. Apparently, it was quite the job and they took a trailer load over to her new room. They were not allowed to go in. A worker came out and got the furniture and took it in himself.

Vaccines for COVID-19 and the stricter wearing of masks seems to be helping in our county. The numbers are finally coming down.

The vet’s office called; BZ's blood work came back good. Her liver enzymes dropped from 702 last year to 559. All good news. 😅 There was a marker on her blood that showed she had had an injury. We couldn’t figure that out until Mark remembered the operation on her paw last year which took a long time to heal. So that mystery is solved. Anyway, she seems to be feeling fine now. We are supposed to keep her on the probiotic for another couple of weeks and then reduce it to 2 to 3 times a week. 

Randy and Dawn had lunch in Astor today and popped in on the motorcycle for a visit. We had a little bit of rain, so they stuck it out and hopefully got home nice and dry.

We’re watching the series bloodline, and it’s getting better and better. That’s it for tonight.

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Good morning. We were up extra early as Mark and his friend Bob are going hiking in the woods today. It’s a nice cool start for them in the 50s. I have a couple of paintings to finish before my new (art course) projects come online tonight.

We girls remember dad today, on the occasion of his birthday. Fortunate we were to have a wonderful father who taught us value. Rest in peace dad as we all know you had little peace with we 4 girls were around. LOL 

Mz Bee he’s definitely feeling better today. Whenever the refrigerator opens she dashes into the kitchen. She still on the probiotics and restricted diet. Once her blood work comes back to the vet we will know more. At this point, we think it is just a case of over eating, which we are all guilty of during COVID-19. Ha ha.

We popped over to see Lani and Markymark tonight and their place is looking really nice. They are moved in, well at least halfway. They still have a lot to do but at least they are in there and just dealing with one house, instead of two. They will be putting their other home up for sale soon.

Today, Mark got stuck, for the very first time in his entire life, up to the axles, in mud. He said he was never stuck in snow or anything else and this was a first for him. It was kind of funny, as he has always said to me “don’t worry about me if I am with Bob.” Well, he was with Bob, two hours overdue and trying to dig themselves out of a mud hole.

At this point, they had spent two hours trying to dig themselves out before calling the wives. 

In the end, they had to ask Kim to drive out to the woods with Bob’s truck to rescue them.

Da Muddy Mountie is out!  

We walked over to have a look at a project that Markymark and Lani would like painted. Had a little visit, a beer and a glass of wine. Of course they are all moved in but much to be done yet. It’s starting to look like home. They have some very nice pieces of mid-century modern furniture. 

After our dinner of a steak and chicken, Mark lit the fire and we watches TV. It was  just a nice lazy evening. Off to bed by 10ish. 

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Good afternoon. It’s a bright beautiful sunshiny day with a high only in the mid 60s. It’s been housekeeping day here rather than our usual Friday. What a busy week we had!   

Tonight, LaDonna and Waynoe are picking up food at Oakwood smokehouse and coming over here. They really wanted to go out somewhere, but being the weekend, things are way too busy. We are much safer, covid-wise to eat at home.

I’m sure by now you’ve heard all the news about Texas suffering with the incredibly bad weather. Of course their senator, Ted Cruz, took off and left his dog Snowflake home alone with no heat in the house! He got caught in quite D tangle of lies and left his constituents dealing with the lousy power grid in Texas.

We thought this was pretty funny. Anyway, the wind turbines worked fine in the ice and snow in other states, but apparently Texas did not think they needed to add the deicers to the blades. as Mark said, they cheaped out. 

Friday, February 19, 2021

Good afternoon y’all. We were up and away to the vet with Mz Bee first thing where we had an X-ray and senior profile bloodwork done. Poor gal has had runny poops on and off the past couple of weeks. Diagnosis? Gas ... a big full belly and poopy bowels. We were advised bland food, no treats and add Gas-X to her dinner. Monday we’ll have the bloodwork back and check in with Doc. 

While all this was going on we went to Walmart for a list of big items that we needed, for both home and the RV. When we walked out with a cart load the cold rain started. Yesterday, in the 80’s ... tonight in the 40’s.  Brrr

Meanwhile, little Beau is living life like a king at Di & Kris’s ... a pedicure, hair trim and bath. 

Kris is busy ... 

Beau felt great afterwards. 

And at K’s rescue ... 

Aubrey learned where to sit at dinner time. 😂

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Good afternoon. Mark and I are just back from getting our first COVID-19 vaccine. We got the Pfizer one, quick and easy in and out at our vaccination location. There are hundreds of people working there and doing a great job. Now, let’s hope we will be as lucky with our second dose on March 11. 

This afternoon is going to be the TV coverage of the Mars landing at 3:30. You can bet I will be watching, this is every bit as exciting to me as the moon landing was back in 1969. Yes, I was on the planet 🌎 at that time. Ha ha ha ha. 

Yesterdays mission for Mark and I was to deliver Beau to Diane and Kris in the Villages. Everything went swimmingly well. You would think the little doggie knew exactly where he was going! Once we turned into the Villages development he stopped shaking, perked up and looked around at the golf carts and the low-slung houses. He knew things were looking up. Kris was in his bedroom with Bella when we arrived so Diane suggested we just let Beau walk around and investigate everything. He sure did ... he was through the entire house before he met Bella. Her first initial reaction was jealousy, of course. She laid down the rules by chasing him out of the kitchen. But, Diane reported that by this morning they were already playing chase and having fun. Somethings are just meant to be. The poor little guy is incredibly skinny but I know he will get good meals and be fattened up in no time. 

Me with the little Beau.

Diane with Belle ... Kris with Beau. 

That’s it for today! It’s happy hour and cigar:30 right after dinner. 😎

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Good morning. It’s 9 o’clock here, a little cooler than yesterday with cloudy skies. The sun is trying to peek through, but I shall have to check the weather forecast to see what is in store for us today.

The 💩 has really hit the fan with CLIMATE CHANGE! We’ve been inundated for years with the pictures of the polar bears and disappearing ice. What the general population wasn’t thinking of was the more severe winters going deeper and deeper into the North American continent. As evidenced in the last few days, the power grid in major cities is not equipped to handle the population running heat. And, there is the problem with frozen pipes bursting! Ah yes, it was an error to call it global warming, as people thought it was merely going to get warmer by one or 2°. Climate change is the way to think of it. With it we will have more communicable pathogen‘s that will change how we live on this planet.

I’ve just finished a few paintings I have been working on and will share them here. The first one, is a Zen dragonfly. The idea is leaving the old behind and flying towards the sun.

It was a good meditative type of art piece. The dragonfly took a while to do with all those markings. Enjoyable? Absolutely. It is acrylic on watercolor paper.

The next one is from my art class lesson. There are three layers of watercolor paper, painted, cut out and assembled and then decorated.

The base layer is acrylic ink paint, ‘framed’ with script of a love poem, a watercolor (center) heart, and acrylic painted wings cut out and assembled around the heart. Meh, fiddly but opens the creative mind. 

And, the last one I did while RVing this past week ... All my cottage paintings have sold online, so it’s time to do a few more. 

Just a fun tropical beach cottage scene to warm the soul. 

Today’s main goal is to get aunt Jane move to the skilled nursing at the Cove (where has a villa.) Then, her sweet little dog BoBo, a Chorkie (Chihuahua/Yorkshire terrier) to Diane and Kris in the Villages. We will not be going into visit with the family, but just picking up the little dog and heading straight to the villages. You see, Mark and I have our vaccine appointments tomorrow, Thursday. We won’t take the chance of visiting with them all ... they’ve traveled in the last week! It’ll be a mask up hello and goodbye. Ha ha. 

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Good afternoon. It is a bright beautiful sunshiny day here in Central Florida. We were so glad we came home early from our RV trip yesterday as there was terrible weather north of here. We were supposed to get thunderstorms overnight, but we never heard a thing. Anyway, today is gorgeous and in the mid-60s.

We tidied up the rig today and got it backed into the RV port. Now, we can get the golf cart out and do a little cruising around the hood with the kids.

Ol’ orange man’s woes continue ... 

Monday, February 15, 2021

Good morning FOGGYVILLE. I took the Scotties outside at 6:15 into a pea soup fog. This RV resort is very quiet 🤫 ... more rain and potential bad weather today. There’s a crazy strong cold air mass that went deep into Texas the past couple of days trying to worm it’s way into Florida. Since we have weather in the 80’s it’s going to mess up our clear skies again today. 

Last night we enjoyed a lovely fire between misty showers. They never lasted more than five minutes, so we’d take our chairs under the RV awning ... then to the fire again. Finally, Mark just decided to sit in the rain. Ha ha. It was a fun evening.

Waiting for a break in the weather yesterday for a doggie walk. 

Woo-hooo ... WE got vaccine appointments! Happy dance! Yay! 

While I was in the shed painting, Mark was watching the weather channel and saw there was a Torcon 5 in the area where we were. That meant we had five of 10 chance to  see a tornado within 50 miles of us. The storm cells were all around so we made the decision to head for home. Wayne and LaDonna agreed and we packed up and arrived home by 3:30. It’s a good thing, there are strong storms capable of spawning tornadoes to the north and to the south of us. Home sweet home. 

So, we got the rig unpacked, and it’s now 8 o’clock and I’ve just put the last load of laundry into the washer. Tomorrow, we will get it all sorted out again and ready for the next adventure.

There was mail to open and a birthday gift to order for Isabella‘s 10th birthday. Done. 😉