Saturday, July 7, 2018

Good afternoon. It’s now 3:45 and I am just beginning today’s blog. Where has the day gone? Mark decided to put in four hours trimming a Pinder palm tree and some sago palms at the project house. 

Pinder Palm was being swallowed by the Magnolia tree so Mark gave it some space. You can see how much the tree was bending to grab the light! 

I puttered around deep-cleaning the kitchen and tidying the house plus replanting some plants. It was busy enough! Oh yes, I had to find a spot for the acquired Calla Lily from RanDawn’s. (We’re still laughing over that!)

Aurelia and Tony phoned this morning to wish Mark a happy birthday. They were outside on the patio with Chessie ... a nice day with wind. 

Tonight, we are meeting Diane and Kris and Randy and Dawn for dinner at IchiBan. I am sure this will get Scott’s mouth watering. Ha ha

Yes, dinner was good! The end result was “food coma!”  Ha!

Kris, Randy & Dawn ... looking full. 

Diane was busy working on her web page but stopped to watch a story Mark saved about using Lidar to map the jungles in Central America. It was a nice evening!

Meanwhile, Sue and Wayne went dancing and left Les  and Lynne babysitting their dogs. Hmmm, good friends. Tomorrow is a specialty vet appointment in Winnipeg. 

Now, it’s relax time and TV. 

Friday, July 6, 2018

Good morning from sunny South Florida. Today is Mark’s birthday! 

Right after breakfast he opened his gifts. As you can see, his big gift was a Garmin RV 770 ... Disk lights, a Copperfit step watch and a canvas “cabin window” mural for the RV living room. 

Room with a view! It’ll go with our “woodsy” moose theme we’ve got going on in the RV. 

Well today has disappeared in a flash and it’s now 3 o’clock. We are getting ready for Randy and Dawn‘s birthday steak dinner and cheesy potatoes. 😋Robbie and BeeZee are invited too. 

We arrived about 4 o’clock, had Dawn‘s terrific happy hour appetizers, followed by perfectly cooked steaks, salad and cheesy potatoes. We had a blast!!!  Dawn pressured Randy into emptying his sacred Tea.drawer (from 2009) so she could store super cute napkins! In the end, Mark and I are taking home a Calla Lilly silk plant that got evicted from their place. OMG we had so many laughs.

Randy tossed the Calla Lily plant. Haha. Dawn didn’t like it. Dusty, she said. 

Mark seems to have been a bit of an instigator when he noted Randy opening a cabinet and napkins falling out all around.  So, Randy’s tea, most of it from 2009, was trash. Dawn wanted the drawer for her super cute napkins collection. We approved. Haha. 

Mark got a terrific gift from Randy and Dawn. No more hanging Christmas lights from the eaves trough! He got a new fabulous Christmas display from a projector. Yay, totally modern. ✅

Mark said it was a great birthday! Thank you.  ❤️

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Ha ha. Good morning. No, it is not Mark’s birthday today. It’s tomorrow. I dug out the gifts I have assembled for him, all wrapped this year, and will take them when we go to visit Randy and Dawn tomorrow. He can open the pressies with them for oooo’s and ahhhh’s. 

Meantime, it’s a little warm this morning at 77°. I watered plants, cleaned the bird baths, started laundry and cooked food for the dogs (which I freeze) for the upcoming RV trip. 

Mark has a morning of roundabouts. First, he has a routine eye doctor appointment, then shopping at Rural King (chainsaw?) followed by the post office. Yes, I had an eBay sale of my former living room valances. I got $50 for the three of them. 🤷‍♀️ 

Saturday, we are meeting Diane and Kris at IchiBan for dinner. They are coming here afterwards to pick up the black wicker table and chairs. It’ll be fun to see them! 

So I guess construction will start soon on the new construction on the lot at the end of our street. Cool eh. 

I imagine we will get very tired of the construction traffic on our otherwise quiet street, but hey, it’s progress!

Tonight, Mark and I are going to Stavros, just the two of us. We asked Karen and Pete but they are in Clermont tonight at a camp out. So, it’s Mark‘s birthday eve ... should I let him open a present tonight? Ha ha, I sound like a kid again. We girls were allowed open one present each on Christmas Eve. It was torture just opening one. Ha ha, the good ole days. 💕

Sue and Wayne are preparing for a dock party at their place tomorrow evening. New awnings are going up around the boathouse. Cha-Ching. 😂 Look for some pictures tomorrow night from the event.  We’re sorry to miss it right on Mark’s birthday but we can’t do Canada every summer unless we win the big lotto. Heehee. 

Ha! At Stavros our “son” Connor asked us “Where’s Mom & Dad?” 

OMG ... he’s so funny and does the same thing when Dawn and Randy show up without us. Randy says he’s too tall to be a Staggerman. 😁

Back home it’s time for Ancient Aliens. Ta Ta til tomorrow. 

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Good morning y’all. 

While we watched Good Morning America I made some RV travel plans for this upcoming winter. For a change of pace, we are going to Savannah Georgia for New Year’s Eve with the VIP camping club. Mark was a little dubious about going “North” in the winter months, but it appears to be an average of 41 to 61 in January. Never mind, we will only be there five nights and we can always hightail it home to Florida. 

Meanwhile, Mark has a repair to do on his chainsaw. It has been a well-used piece of equipment and finally, it has a problem. Thank heavens for YouTube videos ... and a guy who can fix most anything! ❤️ Me? Well I will be taking the dogs for a ride on the golf cart and then getting back into creating things for my eBay store. No, it doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? 

The Fourth of July is being celebrated in downtown Tavares today. Mount Dora had their celebration yesterday, and last Sunday was Eustis’ event. Believe me, if you want to do something around here, it’s available. We have loose plans to go to O’Keefes, or Ruby Street Grill to watch the action tonight. (Robbie could care less about fireworks, but BeeZee Is a little more anxious.) Last night a neighbor had a big display with boom 💥 boom 💥 boom 💥 boom 💥 boom 💥 going off for almost an hour! (We estimated they blew off $1000 worth of fireworks.)  🙄 

It’s a lovely 75° so we’re going to the front porch for happy hour and barbecue at home tonight. The dogs will be happier with us home ...

Ignorance is indeed BLISS. Our favorite place, Fish Camp was heavily damaged by this nasty on Lake Eustis! 

We’re sure glad we weren’t there with our pontoon boat, we could never out run it like this one did!

Fish Camp roof ... it took a direct hit. 

The new patio roof. 

Sign gonzo. 

Ceiling in the kitchen area ... down. 

Don’t worry. No one was injured and the roofers will be fixing things tomorrow. 

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Hey there, it’s been a busy day here but what else is new? 

Budget A/C arrived at 10:30 and got our air conditioning running again. Hip hip hooray. (It was 80F in the house with 3 subsidiary units working.) anyway, the technician got it running but a part is needed. He ordered it and expected in next Monday. No charge for today ... he will bill us after he puts in the new part next week. Great service! 

I spent my day doing a few photos with the new “photo studio box” that I ordered. I think it does make a good difference. Also, it’s a little quicker to use than my former method. Mark worked across the street loading Randy’s truck with more brush from a tree he just cut down by Marky-Mark’s pool. 😎

Randy and Dawn had an appointment today for preliminary information on Randy’s upcoming knee replacement surgery. It’s good to be prepared. He learned that he will need a walker at the hospital. That reminded me that I didn’t have one and had to borrow  one at Waterman. 

I offered my black wicker table and chairs to Diane & Kris who accepted. It’s in excellent condition having been in A/C all these years. 

I wanted a good home for it! 

After an hour in the kitchen cooking food for the doggies, we went for a swim at Lew & Lynn’s. It felt great, 85. 

While we were swimming, Sue and Wayne went to Boston Pizza for dinner with Rose. It’s Pasta Tuesday!

Tomorrow is guaranteed to be fireworks around the ‘hood. It’s been crazy around here tonight already. 🙄 I’m over it. Ha. 

Monday July 2, 2018

Good morning! We were both up at 3:30 🕞? What the heck? We suspect it was from eating a carbohydrate diet yesterday! Will we ever learn? Well, apparently not. Ha ha. Eventually we went back to bed for a few hours until Ms. BZ thought it was time to eat. 

Yes it is at our house. 🐾💕

Mark is working across the street now cutting down a tree by the pool for Marky-Mark. We are halfway expecting him to come down here before our RV trip. We shall see. I am spending my day creating jewelry for my eBay store. A parcel just arrived which contains my new photo studio in a box. It was pricey, so I hope it improves the quality of my jewelry pictures. 

At 3:30, we went over to the pool at Marky-Mark’s. It is perfectly clear. That’s amazing considering where there’s pool started three months ago. BeeZee had such fun! She jumps into the pool and swims to us! (Yes, both dogs are wearing their HedzUp collars!) Robbie did swim, reluctantly. He’s a land-lubber! 

Sue and Wayne have the family visiting over the long (Canada Day) weekend. 

Kyle & Wayne on the porch ... 

Wayne, Cody and Gavin 

Wayne & Cody

Wish we were there for the weekend fun! Tonight Mark put the oven on and cooked stuffed chicken for dinner. That was wonderful, but then our AC quit working while the oven was on. Ha ha, never a dull  moment. Fortunately, we have two separate air conditioners, one is in the sunroom and one in my craft room/garage. Oh yes, we also have one in our bedroom. So, we should be OK until the AC man gets here. He is so busy that his recording is full. 🙄 Fingers crossed that it won’t be too expensive a fix. 

That’s it for tonight. Hope your Monday was fun too. 

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Good morning from Sunny Central Florida where it is 72° this morning. I watered my plants and spritzed them before the heat of the day moved in. Happy July everyone! I remember this as the first day of summer holidays. Mom and Dad took us on the boat for the annual Dominion Day boat parade. It ran from the Louise Bridge to the old train bridge (now Chief Peguis.) Our boat was decorated with colorful pennant flags from stem to the anchor mast peak and back to the stern. It was fun. 

Meanwhile, Scottie dog Chief is pulling a cart at a dog show! That’s Bonnie encouraging him on. What a bunch of talent from that boy! (Mark played the video which got Robbie and BeeZee howling at our house. Haha. BeeZee HID under our coffee table.) 🐾❤️

Chief pulling a cart at the dog show. Me thinks the harness is not right for short doggies. 😜

Robbie’s watching and cheering on Chief from home. 😂

Bonnie said the winner was a greyhound that pulled 1200 pounds. Damn, that’s a sled dog. Here’s Bonnie with one of her up and coming pups ...

Well done Bonnie! We know this is a full-time endeavor bringing our Scotties back to health and prominence. 🐾💕

At home base, we’re meeting RanDawn at Plaza Guadalajara for dinner with the family. It’s the first time everyone could get together for Dawn’s birthday. (Yes, she’s managed to squeak over into a new month of birthday fun!) 😂

We had the whole room to ourselves! It was a good thing as the kids had fun running around. Makenna and Charlotte went for a sleepover with Nannie and Randy. They have a movie to watch! Pyjama Party. 😂

Ta Ta TIL tomorrow.