Tuesday November 15, 2022

Good evening y’all. We’re waiting for the moon launch from the Cape. Meanwhile, 

The wild haired tree is our Sycamore. For 4 years we tried fixing it’s ailments. Hundreds of $ later, it’s time.  

There was something going on!

Heartbreaking in a way. 

Gone. 

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Good morning. Mark is off grocery shopping while I tidy the house! A Bark Box arrived … will let the kids have at it this afternoon! Our Robbie and BeeZee are so easy … a simple no stops any unwanted behavior in its tracks. But, apparently that isn’t just a Scottie thing … read on. 😈 🐾😂

From a Facebook Scottie owner …

I 

So this afternoon Mark took Robbie and Belize for a golf cart ride and then after dinner, we sat on the front porch while Mark had a cigar. It was a nice evening, in the 60s. 

BTW this is our newest neighbor …

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Good morning. I hope it’s a bright beautiful sunshiny day in your area, because it sure isn’t here. I woke up to an overnight rain and everything wet and foggy with a cold front. It is 64°F this morning. Mark, Wayne and Bob are all off in the Ocalla forest for the first day of gun season. They are going to be very very wet. 🥶 I can hear Rick M laughing. Yes, when you live in Florida and it’s in the 60s and damp it feels cold. Never mind, by noon it’ll be 84° and partly sunny. 😂

The sunshine state took a heavy blow from hurricane Nicole. It was only a category one when it landed in Vero Beach on Thursday morning. However, as the winds at 70 miles an hour pummeled the coast all the way up to Saint Augustine, into Georgia and the Carolinas, it created huge beach erosion.  things have been weakened by hurricane Ian which had hit the west coast of Florida five weeks previously. Nicole was 700 miles wide, and the Florida peninsula at 120 miles wide was no match. several condos on Daytona Shores are untenable at this time and likely to be condemned. 

At our home, 60 miles inland, we had enough wind to make a mess of the yard with leaves and Spanish moss. Mark took the trailer to Nancy’s yesterday and helped her clean up her lakefront yard. She had quite a few branches down from these cypress trees and a trailer load of Spanish moss. It was nice to get it cleaned up as her next-door neighbors got married yesterday and had a backyard wedding. 

Sue is having a garage sale today, along with a dozen of her neighbors. I am picking up Kim and we are going to poke around and see what’s for sale. No, we don’t need anything, but you know how that works. 😂 

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Good morning. We are having tropical storm winds and blowing rain this morning from hurricane Nicole which came in to Port St. Lucie at 3 AM. Unfortunately, it has been in the Atlantic sitting in place for such a long time that the waves have been pounding the east coast line. Beach erosion is bad. Oh well, it’s mother nature‘s handiwork. 

Yesterday, we took Robbie and Belize was along for the ride, for Robbie’s ultrasound appointment at the University of Florida in Gainesville. This is the third year of doing ultrasound to check on his liver. His AL P liver enzymes have been through the roof since 2016. A couple of months ago we discovered Dr. Ruth Roberts crockpot diet and began following it. His numbers came down from 3500 to 2688, a vast improvement but still about 2100 over what they should be. Anyway, his ultrasound showed no significant change to the liver, and they are just watching a 2 mm spot which we will recheck in one year. Robbie will be 12 on December 16, so we are very happy with this news. 

The information that we got from our personal consultation with Dr. Roberts on Tuesday will further help us tweak his diet with Chinese medicines to clear the gunk out of his gallbladder. This will apparently help his liver to heal. In addition, we were able to stop two medications that he has been on for a long time. More good news.  🐾🥰 

So today, while the wind and rain swirls around I am catching up on laundry and Mark is cooking a batch of pork and vegetables for the kids. The first time we cooked up a batch it seemed overwhelming, but you get into a routine and it’s quite easy. now we just need the power to stay on for eight hours while it cooks. Ha ha.

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Good afternoon. Today is the midterm elections in our country. There won’t be results tonight, too many mail in votes that need to be counted afterward. 

Yesterday was my big bowling day with the league. Nancy and I had fun, and bowled fairly well. I had a 142 for my first game and went down after that. Ha ha. Hey, but one really good game makes you feel fantastic. Nancy couldn’t get anything going with her bowling until she had had two beer. Now we’re laughing that she needs to have a beer before I pick her up to go! 🍻 

I got home (yesterday) about 3:30, and tidied up for our night out at Applebee’s. Well, we are certainly changing our time for going there. We met at 5:30 and the place was absolutely packed. We got one of two high top tables. People kept pouring in the front door and the poor waitresses were runoff their feet. We were patient, and out of there by 7:30. It was a fun evening. LaDonna and Wayno met us and we had picked up KimBob. It’s always a fun time. 

This morning, with the advent of Hurricane Nicole bearing down on Florida, we canceled our RV trip to Sarasota. We may not get a direct dousing in our area, but who wants to be on the road hauling the RV on Thursday as the storm arrives. It’s a real shame as this is the annual rally which we always enjoy so much.

We were a bit bummed out so decided to go bowling this afternoon and drink a couple of beer. Mark had his best game in a long long time at 180 … OMG, he was doing great.  The next two games fell apart, but that’s how we roll. 

Sue has been helping Diane and Kris unpack and picked up some more items for me to put on eBay to benefit Shih Tsu rescue. That’s fantastic, I will have to get over there and pick up the stuff in the next few days.

This morning we had our consultation with Dr. Ruth Robertson, of the crockpet diet fame. Oh my goodness, it was absolutely worth every penny for her to go over the bloodwork of the dogs and give us advice on supplements, tests and things that we have been doing that we can now stop.

We fueled up on the way home as tomorrow we are taking Robbie for his annual liver ultrasound at the University of Florida Small animal Hospital in Gainesville. It’s nearly 2 hours drive for us, but well worth it as they have done this test for the past two or three years. Sticking to the same place makes sense to me.

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Good afternoon. It’s been a couple of days of Christmas decorating around here. It had to be done earlier than usual for my December 1st Yaya‘s party! 

This afternoon we took the dogs for a nice boat ride down Haines Creek. As we were leaving our canal we saw Kim and Bob just getting home from fishing. They grabbed a drink and came along with us for the ride. 

There was a college fishing tournament on today and we saw a lot of boat traffic. 

Glorious day! Robbie likes Kim! 

Lake Eustis … choppy today! 

Our pretty canal … the doggies enjoyed it all. 

Sue spent four hours helping Diane with unpacking today. She hired some help yesterday that got some of the larger items moved. Apparently the kitchen still needs to be packed and a lot of the pictures are still on the wall. Bit by bit they are getting there. We wonder if they even know the time changed, as they do not have a TV nor internet working yet. 😂

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Good afternoon. Well, Tuesday was Sue’s birthday and apparently I forgot to post it. So, happy birthday Sue! She and Wayne were in South Florida for a few days! 

Mark and I helped Diane and Kris by moving a few bulky boxes and dressers for them. They guys were able to move the three curio cabinets without any damage! That’s quite a miracle in itself, as the backing is mirrors. It was a slow process; everything had to be done very carefully. Anyway, we did what we could and they have plenty more to move. I suggested they get some young help! 

Mark and Kris with one of the three cutio pieces.  

The house is quite lovely, and will be beautiful when they get it organized and decorated. I sure hope it’s in time for them hosting Thanksgiving. Ha ha ha. 

Yesterday, Mark went to the shooting range with Wayno to get his new rifle sighted in. I had tons of paperwork to do as well as doing a deep cleaning in the living room. When Mark got home, he help me haul the two big Christmas trees out of the closet. They are at least standing where they can be fluffed and decorated over the next few days.  I am hosting Christmas Yaya‘s on December 1 this year so better get a move on with my decorating!!!

It seems the home repair list is never ending! Now the water softener is freaking out!!! Ca-ching. 😅

This afternoon we went to the bowling alley. When we got there, they were upgrading their computer system and let us pull for free. There was no scorekeeping so we had to resort to the old pencil and paper style. We ordered lunch there so we weren’t just free loaders.  😂 

This evening is Yaya‘s at Nancy Strama’s lake house. The fun never ends in this ‘hood. 🥳