Valentine's Day 2016

Good morning from sunny Central Florida. Mark was up at 4 AM with sore knees from yesterday's project. Nevertheless, he went to buy 15 more fence panels and 17 posts at Lowe's. We hope to finish the job today. Some of the panels will need cutting/fabricating. 

Downtown Eustis was beautiful last night with the palm trees lit on Magnolia. Big changes are coming to the area this year. Ferran Park (waterfront) is getting a splash pad and vendors at the public docks. Cool. 

Me and my valentine outside 1884. Dinner was excellent, and our waitress terrific! 

Mark arrived home about 11 o'clock with the panels. I cut the wrappings off them and prepared the posts by removing the stake portion. By noon, we had installed 15 panels. Damn, we're getting good at this! Mark realized he had picked up the wrong nuts and bolts for finishing the job. The package he picked up was in the wrong slot at Home Depot. Drat. Anyway, we need two more panels to finish. So, after lunch, he went to Home Depot while I relaxed on the front porch with the doggies. Belize was fascinated by the flock of white Ibis in our front lawn. (They come by once or twice a week to eat grubs.) I washed the two birdbaths and refill them and then put out fresh seed and mealworms for the birds. Our friend and neighbor down the street, Carol and Roger, have been feeding meal worms to our bluebirds. Well, the bluebirds have been hanging out at their house, so we had to step it up by offering meal worms here to get our birds back. LOL. I guess were keeping up with the Joneses as mom used to say. But, since we had a Jones family for relatives, I used to say to her, but aren't they poor mom? Haha. 

As you can see, we had plenty of help putting up our fence panels. 

Everyone loves to help their daddy. Sweet. 

Finished! Fantastic! Fun!

Lots of space to enjoy! 

Randy and Dawn arrived about 530. We had Stavros Pizza, watched Long Island Medium then played Mexican dominoes until 1030. For the first time ever, we had a tie between Randy and Mark. We played a rubber match, and Mark won ... Randy was stuck with the double blank, 50 points! LOL. 

Wha-wa-waaa. 

Hahaha. It was great fun!  Afterwards, we played Kings in the corner. Randy and Dawn I just learned how to play it. It was a fun game. At 11:45, they headed home and we tidied up. The Scotties were exhausted, having had a busy day and lots of company. Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Iron Curtain 2/13/16

Good day! All's well. Finally, I put all the suitcases away from our Tulsa trip. It sounds simple, right? Of course one suitcase fits into another and another and so on and so forth. While I was in the guestroom doing this, Belize came in to snoop around the "new" room in the house. She sniffed at the French doors, so I opened them and let her into the Sunroom. I closed the French doors behind her. She stood for a second, looking around; then dartedtoward the  sunroom/dining room entrance, through the dining room, down the hall and into the guestroom. What a smart girl she is! Really! 

At Bonnie & Roger's, it's bath day for their kiddos ... all 5 of 'em.

Bonnie's been doing their grooming today although Mark and I thought they looked perfect. We had some laughs when Bonnie chided Mark for chopping Robbie's eyebrows too short. She threatened she'd get ahold of Mark and chop his ...

and I said, "Please do!" LOL. We had so much fun with her and Roger. 

Speaking of pals, Rick and Ruth sold "In Tune" and must vacate their boat by the 16th. I invited them to come here and think what they would like to do next. 

When they listed their yacht for sale, they thought it may take 2-3 years to sell. It didn't. Ha! They had 6 days to vacate! I can only imagine the furious packing going on at this moment in Stuart, Florida. Fortunately, they have an RV but it's going to be stuffed! 

Two days ago, BeeZee outsmarted Robbie, aka "The Troll." 

She took Robbie's favorite squeak toy under HIS spot; the Livingroom coffee table. Oh, Robbie! Your world has changed! It's ruff, huh?

Do you see the bird atop my table lamp? Belize does! And she wants it! LOL

Today's project is to install Empire ornamental iron fencing around our Chattahoochee raised patio. This will give Robbie and Belize a safe place to play outside when we're entertaining at the outdoor bar area. (Yes, we do have an indoor bar too!) 

Installation is mostly easy-peasy. We removed the spike bottom on the posts because we're installing the fence atop the pressure treated timbers. Mark drilled the holes while I unwrapped and prepped the pieces. We had 12 sections installed in 2 hours. Tomorrow, we'll buy 15 more, plus 17 posts and finish the job. It'll be about $550 finished but priceless for the last piddle before bedtime for the Scotties. 

Tonight, Mark and I are going to 1884 for our Valentine's dinner. Yes, we're a day early! We plan it that way and don't care to go out on the 14th. (He bought me a lovely orchid for the garden ... and last year's is now reblooming!)

Dinner at 1884 was a 4.5 tonight. That's pretty darn good for a local-yokel restaurant. Taylor was a good waitress ... rib-eye very good; pork chop excellent. Well done for VD. ;-)

The pups were happy to see us and def had a dog-run!!  The underpad was missing a strip! BeeZee? lol. 

Ta ta. It was a great evening. 

2/12/16

It's a lovely start to the morning in Central Florida. Our Scotties enjoyed a sunny front porch and 70F. 

BeeZee continues to be inquisitive about everything! She spotted a Celtic cross hanging above the guest bath door and stood on her hind legs to see it better. She's so funny! Robbie continues to herd and otherwise try to control her. Right now though, he's napping and she's playing with the Starmark dispenser! 

Today we left the two in charge while Mark and I went on errands ... for 2+ hours! Our regular gal, Cheri, at Grand Island post office was out and Michele on duty. Ho hum, you've got to have patience with her. Poor girl tries but the job seems to be over her grasp. I had a registered letter going to Canada. Finally, the postmaster stepped in and handled it. Alas, not all jobs are for all people. Other stops were Pet Supermarket for tiny dog treats (Rob's diet!) and Walmart, for food, just because we were nearby. All was 100% when we came home. You see, Bonnie wasn't sure how Belize might behave when trusted at home alone. So far, so good; even great! 

Mark measured our chatahochee stone patio for fencing. It's a flea-free zone being 8" above the grass and would be safer (and easier) to let the Scotties have some backyard freedom. We'll see if it's affordable, but that's tomorrow's job. It was enough catching up on laundry and grocery today. 

Bonnie sent me this funny ...

and said "You!"  Sweet.  Bonnie began training the wee pups to walk on a lead. Chief caught on quickly; Hana preferred stalking the sidewalk by keeping her center of gravity low. Haha. Mark and I saw her do that before "surprise" attacking Chief. There's a Scottie dog show in early March so we know it's going to be busy at their house! Roger shows the dogs, too. Fun stuff!

Happy to report that both Sue and Wayne are feeling much better! Tonight, they're off to the Briny in Pompano Beach with Rose for pub dinner. 

Us? Happy hour on the front porch with Belize & Robbie. 

It was just 74F ... cheese 'n crackers with wine. The kids had a few almonds before their dinner of broccoli, kibble and chicken. Yum!

Randy was busy laying a pallet of sod, green side up. Ha! He sounded very worn out when I called. Dawn works all weekend! Darn. 

Tomorrow, will be going to the Home Depot to price some fencing and then tomorrow evening, out for Valentine's Day. For the past 15 years, we've been celebrating the day before, to beat the crowds. LOL. 

So that's it for today. Ta ta. 

2/11/16

Good morning sunshine! It's all what you get used to, but we sure do feel better in the Sunshine State. LOL. Finally, we can both breathe without nasal congestion. Mark's skin was so dry in Oklahoma, I thought he was going to flake away in the wind. Really. Have you ever seen dandruff on black socks? Well, Mark had it. LOL

Our friends Rick and Ruth sold their boat in south Florida. I wonder what lies ahead for them. For Ruth's birthday (10th), Rick cooked dinner for her at Benihana. 

Ruth bought this cooking class for Rick's Christmas gift. 

Rick already enjoys cooking ... and you're a natural at this my friend!  

Yesterday, we made plans to bowl with Randy and Dawn. My bad ... I'd forgotten Ya Ya's was Thursday night and that my RSVP was already in. Darn. I really wanted to bowl; we always have a great time. 

Mark cooked venison meatloaf for he and Lew while Lynn and I went to Ya Ya's. It was great fun tonight. We had salad, pizza and 3 desserts then played charades. Pat did not fail to put us all in stitches as she tried "The Lion King". She flitted about like a bird flapping her arms. What??? LOL. She was upset no one guessed her charade. 

Robbie and Belize continue to get along well. They have fun digging through the toy box. Robs allows he some toys and tonight gave her a rawhide. Once shed softened it up, he took half for himself. Cute. 

That's it for tonight. 

Home! 2/10/16

Good morning y'all. I awoke to find TWO Scotties ... BeeZee in her bed and Robbie sitting alongside it. I took them out back for a pee ... to Robbie it was ho-hum; but to Bee, it was a great big adventure worthy of jackrabbit leaps across the lawn. LOL. She has an eye for artwork! I saw her looking at my Egret painting; then stand straight up for a closer look ... then a couple of barks! I guess it's a pretty good likeness of a bird in her eyes! 

Today would have been my nephew Gregg's birthday. He passed away last December ... gone too soon. You are missed Gregg. I talked to Darlene after dinner. She's having a tough time and still has no appetite. So sad. 

Egad! Welcome home, to two weeks of mail. Ha! Clearly 90% was junk, but 10% was a pain in the butt. There wasn't one item that could just be opened and handled. Everything required phone calls. You know that kind of mail, right? I was down to the last piece that was going to require an hour or two's work when Dawn phoned to say she and Randy were on their way over. Perfect. Tomorrow's another day! 

Mark took Robbie to the vet to get the packing out of his ear. He came home looking a little out of sorts, Robbie, not Mark. I guess they had to flush his ear out after that, and he was clearly annoyed. Mz B met him at the door, and he acted as if she was a strange dog. Ha ha. Actually, he may have been feeling a little dizzy. Ms. B on the other hand, has been romping through the house with glee. She loves all the low windows ... Scottie dog height. ;-)

Mz BeeZee sat with Mark and napped this morning. 

Randy and Dawn arrived for happy hour and to meet our new family member, Belize, or BeeZee as we say. 

BeeZee on uncle Randy's lap. Dawn brought dog cookies! They were accepted! LOL

Meanwhile, back in Tulsa, Bonnie and Roger set up a larger pen for puppies Chief & Hana.

Excellent! Room to romp and they'll be potty trained in no time now! 

It was 70F in T-Town tonight! 

Bonnie is getting some slurpy kisses tonight. We miss you all. 

We're worn out again tonight so Ta ta til tomorrow!

Final Stretch - 2/9/16

Good morning. We had a great sleep! Yay. It's "Fat Tuesday" and the local buzz is all about Mardi Gras parades. Us? We'll be on the road about 6:30. 

The Florida border sign came into view at 10 so we pulled into the welcome center to walk the kids. They're doing fine! It's very windy again today! Good travel weather for us!

We're cruising down I-10 with 210 miles to go at 2:23. I just spied a USB plug in our Kia, plugged in my phone and, voila ... my iTunes played. Haha.

At 4 o'clock we had 113 miles due south to home base. The wind is causing havoc with dust and big gusts. We stopped at a rest area for the Scotties to walk. They were admired! Well, I got 1 compliment with my hair blowing in the wind.  Nice.

Sue and Wayne are still home with the cold and flu bug. She thought they were feeling a little better today, but still coughing.

Dawn is back to work, and Randy is home doing laundry. They have a few days until company arrives to fill both guestrooms. Then it's PARTAY TIME. Yay. 

Tomorrow, Randy and Dawn will be over to see Robbie and meet BeeZee. Tomorrow night is $1 bowling, so I'm sure we'll be going too. We have scratch off tickets bought with our last bowling gutter ball fund money. Since Dawn was lucky and won the football pool a second year in a row, we'll have her scratch the tickets. ;-)

We were home about 6 o'clock, just in time to unload and feed the pups. I walked BeeZee around the house on a leash then went in the backyard where Robbie ran around showing her all his favorite spots. They shared toys and both had a brushing with Mark. Nice!

I hope she will quickly feel at home here More tomorrow! Ta ta. 

Tulsa to Baton Rouge 2/8/16

Good morning! We somehow managed to pack, load up and say our farewell by 6:45. I'd been "eyeing" something for nearly 2 weeks and, at the last minute, Bonnie let me have her (very rare) Mary Englebreit O'Henry cookie jar! Wowsa! I love it! Roger found bubble wrap and Bonnie, Scotch tape! So, we were on our way home with Robbie, Belize & O'Henry.   Thank you my dear friend! 

O'Henry is going to sit on our granite kitchen lunch bar. I LOVE him! Thanks again girlfriend! I will take great care of him!

Our route was I-75 south to Muscogee Indian Turnpike. We stopped for breakfast at Creek Nation Travel Plaza. (It had a Burger King and Hunt's Pizza!) Mark bought us egg & sausage croissants. The Scotties are doing fine! 

Timichael called on Facebook Messenger, free! That's pretty cool. He's been working on his civil court case documents. We wish him luck. 

Here's a picture of the beautiful conch shell cameo pendant that Bonnie & Roger gifted me for my birthday! They watched the artist working in Roatan. 

I have an idea to string it with pearls. Nice, eh! 

Mark sprung for this Sterling & gold cuff bracelet from the Tulsa Native Art show yesterday. It's totally Handmade! 

What a GREAT birthday! I heard from 40 friends via Facebook ... Sue, Diane and Rick phoned. Randy, Dawn, Bob & Jil, Rod & Shay called today. I feel so lucky to have such a great group around!

Mark was texting yesterday with Matt and he sent us a few pics... Matt & Tiffany with their daughters Hailey and Isabella. 

It's a cute picture. Thank you Matt! We love it. 

At 2, we were on I-49 and the pups were still sleeping! 149 miles to go today! It's so very windy! We saw a Class A deep in the ditch. They were having a very lucky day ... they DIDN'T roll over! It could have been horrible!

Well, we had a calamity of errors with the hotel. I phoned Quality Suites in Baton Rouge and made a reservation. The clerk offered a confirmation number, but I didn't have a pen and paper handy. I put the address into our GPS and we carried on. We were counting down the miles and turned onto the exit. Mark spotted the hotel before GPS announced it ... and pulled into the parking lot. I went in to get our key. Well, they couldn't find our reservation and wanted my confirmation number! Drat. Then, I remembered I'd found it on Google so pulled out my phone and, sure enough, there was hotel I had called ... 15 miles down the highway! Back on the highway in rush-hour, we were puzzling why GPS would take us to that particular one? But it really didn't stop us there ... and I'd turned it off when we found the hotel. LOL 

45 minutes later we arrived at the Quality Inn on Highway I-12, not I-10. Mark was annoyed until I realized that I-12 runs the north side of Lake Ponchatrain and would keep us away from Mardi Gras traffic; we don't want to be anywhere near New Orleans on Fat Tuesday. 

After all the craziness of the first hotel, I decided I'd phone the one we were now driving to doublecheck our reservations. Well, it's a good thing I did!!! The desk clerk and just come on duty and couldn't find my reservation for tonight. Of course he asked for my confirmation number ... Double Drat. I asked if he had any rooms, ... one, a handicap with two queen beds. I said that we'd take it. Well, we arrived at the hotel 45 minutes later and checked in. Everything was fine. Mark walked the dogs while I made their dinner.

Mark had a gassy stomach most of the day (Mexican food the day before) so ran straight to the bathroom. After eating, BeeZee was running around like a little crazy girl. I thought she was just very excited to get out of the car but I was wrong. LOL

Mark stepped out of the bathroom right onto a Dukie. BEEZEE! Then, while he was picking up and cleaning the sole of his shoe, she peed on the chair. (I'm now cleaning the chair while Mark is walking the dog.) I think it's called closing the barn door after the horse has gone! LOL

We decided to order in pizza and pour a glass of wine. The saga continues tomorrow. Haha. Ta ta.