1/28/16

Good morning! It's going to be 62F today! After Roger & Bonnie left for work, we straggled downstairs to feed Robbie and have some toast. 

A dog food delivery arrived via UPS ...

And the wee ones thought they'd open it.  We let them play with it awhile! LOL. Better they bit the box than my pant legs. Hee hee. 

It takes a while to get all 8 dogs outside, in specific groups, several times a day. Tomorrow, Addison goes to her family in Houston, Texas. That'll leave us with "just 7". 

Mark assembled Robbie's puppy crate for Belize ... with his watchful eyes. 

On the other side of a short fence, Mz B watched too. 

Belize (sporting her new collar) & brother, Cabby. (Their mother was Robbie's too.)

Well, I need to get this blog finished because it's now a new day. We went for dinner to Chimi's, a terrific Mexican restaurant with Bonnie and Roger. The food was great! It's in a really neat area of 15th St. There are a lot of shops to walk around and plenty of restaurants. 

Scottieville - 1/27/16

Good morning! Bonnie and Roger left for work by 7:30. After that, Mark and I unpacked, fed Robbie then took he and Belize for their first joint walk. They did just fine! Oddly enough, Mz B seems to have accepted Robs straight away. Robbie is a bit jealous sharing us. It'll take a few days, but we think they're a great pair! 

Tiny Mz B and Robbie Square Pants with Mark. It's a bit frosty for we Floridians but going to 54 this afternoon. 

Back to last night's news ... Bonnie arrived home from work at 5 and got her 6 outside for potty & sunshine. Mark and I unloaded the car and hauled everything upstairs to the guest room. Then, it was intro time for Robbie. Straightaway, he and Percy sniffed and wagged tails. Perfect, they remember each other from 2012! Amazing, right? Percy stayed home with the 3 Scottie shark puppies while we walked. Mark walked Robbie, I with Belize and Bonnie with Cabby & Ella (THE wild one!) LOL. All went very well. Amazing, eh? 

Back home, we poured wine and caught up on events. Bonnie married her sweetheart, Roger, last February in a beautiful Native American ceremony and we hadn't met him yet. Perhaps a 2nd glass of wine happened before Roger got home from his Choctaw language class. 

We all asked what new word he remembered from that class. Of course, under pressure, he couldn't recall any! LOL  You KNOW we had to bring up the "glitter palace" story that Randy always says Mark allegedly visits (instead of deer hunting!) That broke the ice. Roger is a wonderfully kind man who just fit right in. We could see right away that Bonnie married a wonderful husband. 

Mark opened chilled champagne and we toasted to their good fortunes. 

Tonight, we met Vickie & Dick at TiAmo's for dinner. Fabulous! Their lobster bisque was spicy and delicious! 

The 6 of us after dinner. Dick was flying out at 4:30, so they headed home. We 4 went to snuggle doggies and play Mexican Dominoes. Roger is in the lead ... to be continued! 

Finally off to bed at 11:30. Hey, they have jobs! Ta ta. 

Travel #2 1/26/16

There's light rain falling in Tupelo Mississippi early this morning. Both Mark and Robbie are sleeping while I begin repacking. Why do 2 people need this much stuff? 

I slept pretty well. The room got too hot with the typical guess-the-temperature heater/A/C unit. Both times that I was up, no one else seemed bothered. Mark left the bathroom fan on all night to cover machinery noise as our room backed onto the ice maker and vending equipment. (There's no place like your own RV for travel.) ;-)

We were on the road at 6:15 ... same time as yesterday! "Somehow", we've lost our crummy atlas. LOL. Oh well ... Driving I78 through Holly Springs, Mississippi we saw the swath of trees down where the 12/25/15 tornado struck. (It's very close to Olivia's new family in Middleton where we attended her wedding last September.) A 7:15 fuel stop at Flying J took 45 minutes ... no lineup for fuel, just coffee! 

Over the Mississippi River and into Arkansas!  Although flood waters have receded, the mighty river is still high!

At 12:20, we stopped in Clarksville to eat a sandwich and walk Robbie. It's a good thing we weren't a day later leaving, as a very big storm is working its way across the Midwest. We have 176 miles left to Bonnie's. She won't be home until 5 o'clock, so there's no hurry. 

The Ozarks are pretty ... even in winter. Who knew they made wine here! 

We passed by the marker "Trail of Tears" ... Andrew Jackson's miserable idea and process. 

Well the day got away on me! We arrived in Tulsa about 3, found the new liquor store for champagne then went to Sonic for eats. 

At Sonic! Robs likes their grilled chicken but Mark balked at $4 for his sandwich. Ha. 

Bonnie arrived home at 5 and the fun began. More tomorrow!

Travel Day 1/25/16

Good (frosty) morning! It's 6:20 am as we leave home for Tulsa. Later it'll be 70ish. Traffic was light. At 8:10, we stopped at the Lake City rest area & took Robbie for a walk. It was pretty darn chilly.  Well, here we are at 10:05 stopped again. LOL. We're not great car travelers ... but we needed fuel. $18.81 to fill up. 

Well, we are still going through damn Atlanta. Our GPS took us from I75 to I475 loop to I675 which put us on a 10 mile tour through a most scenic area. 

We finally made it to I75N and got onto I20W. Yikes. (FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU.)

So we're cruising along I20W through Birmingham when the GPS directs us to I78. Screw you GPS! We're stating on I20 ... It was correct! Drat. I20 ends there and we had to detour back to I78. (Guess I should have brought the big atlas, not this small one. LOL. (FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME!) 

Oh no!!!  We were told, yes, by our GPS, to get off I78 onto I44 for the last 15 miles to the hotel. Since we DIDN'T OBEY last time, we followed the GPS direction this time. Well, Podunk here we come! Yes, really! Once we arrived at the hotel, we were a stone's throw from the main highway we'd gotten off! LOL. )So it turns out, President Dubya Bush, that you get fooled again!) LOL

When we finally checked in, we fed Robbie then ordered a pizza and poured ourselves wine! We now remember why we didn't want to drive this I20 route. Ha. 

Fortunately, Ancient Aliens was on TV and we relaxed with some we'd not seen before. 

Robbie & Giorgio Tsoukalos. Two favorites!

Ta ta til tomorrow. 

We're PACKED - 1/24/16

Baby it's cold outside ... and Robbie is in no rush to go potty!

Can you see our packed Scottie? Haha. 

This morning it's warmer in Tulsa, Oklahoma than here in Grand Island, Florida. 

The car is loaded, the house-sitter on duty ... we're ready for our T-Town adventure. 

Yes, Mark. We have to drive through Alabama! LOL

Tonight, Randy, Dawn & Scott came by for happy hour and then we were off to Stavros for dinner. 

Everyone made a fuss over Robbie and wished him well meeting Belize. Awww.

Pictures that recently missed the Blog. 

This is a pineapple that Randy grew, and it's standing beside a huge bottle of rum! Wowsa! 

Another Blog miss was "El Diablo" ...

but I have no idea what we were up to! Hi-jinx, obviously. LOL

Well, we're settling in to watch some TV before early bedtime. We hope to be on the road by 6 AM. Ta ta. 

RV Show 1/23/16

Good day! It's sunny, windy & nice this morning...perfect for browsing Giant's display at the mall. No, we're NOT in the market but RanDawn are!

Robbie was sleeping in the Sunroom when Mark looked for him this morning. Maybe the house was too warm last night? We did have the small heater on this morning. Mark cooked turkey sausage and eggs for our breakfast. Aren't I lucky!!! Yes, I am. When I looked at the calendar today I realize that yesterday, January 22, marked 30 years since I moved to Florida. I have good memories of living in Canada, but these United States are fantastic! Florida, in particular, is a tropical paradise to me. For 90% of the year, you just step outside ... no jacket, no boots. Now today, I will probably need a fleecy because of gusty wind. But hey, it is winter in Florida. LOL. A big thank you to my dad and mom who immigrated, and enabled us girls to follow. It was a good family move!

Brrr ... We walked around the RV show for an hour but the wind was relentless = cold. Randy & Dawn saw the TREK that we thought might be ideal for them.

At bowling, Lane 21 was tough! There seemed to be a crest in the center ... even Mark contributed to the fund today! (Mark pays a dollar to the gutter ball fund if he doesn't make three strikes in a game.) Everyone contributed today. LOL

Mark, parting with a buck. Haha. 

We came home ... Mark to build a great roaring fire ... and me to check our packing and close the suitcases. We're 95% ready to travel. The dog beds were washed and readied to welcome our new girl. I'm excited to be on our way!

Dawn's son Brandon celebrated  his 31st birthday yesterday. Tonight, they are getting together with dinner out. Fun! Afterward, everyone is going back to RanDawn's. Happy Birthday Brandon!

Sue & Wayne are off to the Elks for dancing tonight. It's chilly in Pompano tonight with strong winds too. 

We have a nice fire going and we're snuggling with Robbie. I think he's feeling better! Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Vet ... 1/22/16

Poor Robbie! It was off to the vet first thing for a check on his ear. He had a tilted head and looked miserable. Our vet  packed his ear and wants a recheck in 2 weeks. I called later and spoke with Sandy at Animal Medical Services in Eustis. Sandy explained the treatment and said it wouldn't matter if we weren't back in exactly 2 weeks. Maybe we will have Robs checked in Tulsa while we're there dog sitting. 

This afternoon, I worked on filing paperwork while Mark got his packing organized. Canadian paperwork that I filed last April was finally answered. Of course they need more paperwork. Why on earth does it take nearly a year to answer? Frustrating. 

This evening, we are meeting Randy, Dawn and Scott at Guadalajara Mexican restaurant. RanDawn have been raving about it, so we must try it. Afterwards, it's Bowling.

Good food ... Good times!

Randy & Dawn spent their afternoon shopping for phones & a new plan. Scott helped them sort things out and they negotiated a good deal. Because they had to go back and pick up the phones at AT&T after we ate, we decided it would be too late to go bowling. (We didn't want to leave Robbie home alone that long.)

So, at home we're snuggled up with our boy and watching TV. Tomorrow morning, we're going to meet everyone at the Giant Recreation's RV display by the mall. After that, we will go bowling. 🎳

So, ta ta til tomorrow. 💤