Saint Patrick's Day 2016

The Top of the mornin' to ya! Yes, there will be "the wearing of the green" today. Actually, both our heritages stem from the Emerald Isle. So there. We shall celebrate and drink green beer today. LOL. 

Randy popped over with homemade turkey soup and caught me in my nightgown. (Gown doesn't even belong with 'night'!) LOL. Mark mentioned Randy was coming but I didn't heed his warning! This afternoon, Randy has a hot tub being delivered for their patio. That's big news ... he's been wanting one for years! 

After Randy headed home, Mark puttered about trimming palm trees while I moved Livingroom furniture about and vacuumed. Think spring cleaning!

At 3:30, we met Carrie and Bob at Okeefe's. No, we didn't know them, but we got to know them!!! LOL. Bob was a yakker and we learned his family history back to the 1300s. LOL. We were entertained by them until Pat, Ken, Rose and Jim arrived. 

Rose 'n Jim

Ken 'n Pat 

We were lucky enough to get a table for six; ordered dinner and drinks. An Irish singer/guitarist played old tunes while we ate. A few drinks later, we gave up our seats and stood outside to listen to livelier music. A Yeti arrived and coaxed us to another bar where we had a round of "too sweet" wine ... and rock music!

By 8 o'clock we were home with the kids for the evening. It was all good fun.

The Scotty's were very happy to see us! It was snuggles, cuddles and walks! Hope your SPD was great. Muah. 

3/16/16

Good (early) morning! Ugh, I ate too much yesterday! And forgot to drink water last night ... so there's no time like the present ... Gulp gulp gulp. 

Well it is another beautiful day in Central Florida. Mark was under Da Mounty installing front shocks when I got up! He thought the front ones were a little tougher to put on, but got the job done in record time. I guess if you built elevators you can pretty much fix anything! One shock was on backorder. Mark phoned O'Reilly's and it was ready for pick up. So, we both went for the ride as I wanted to pop into Joann Fabrics. You see, I have a job of my own. I am making new curtains for the RV bedroom. Yes, the original ones are in perfect condition. But, I wanted to liven it up with a few new accessories. Too bad for Joann's but they moved things around and I couldn't find special order samples. Back home, I got online and found exactly what I had in mind. I don't want to change the fabric on the 3 Lambrequins so I chose a fabric with some taupe in it. It won't be here until March 24th. 

Back home, we watched yesterday's super Tuesday 3 results and saw Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both did exceptionally well. Our Florida Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, is now out of the race. Well, what did he expect with questionable "I used the wrong credit card" (6 times?) and his no-show during Senate votes.

This afternoon, we watched a little TV and brushed the doggies. Belize likes to get right up in our face while we're brushing her. LOL

We're getting a new store nearby! Panera Bread! It was Randy's favorite in South Florida. He used to buy bread bowls there and make up broccoli cheese soup; awesome.

The kids just had a big dog run and are now relaxing. That sounds like a good idea! Nashville is coming on, Ta ta for now. 

Super Tuesday - 3/15/16

Good day! We had such fun on our RV weekend with Giant Recreation World that we've booked 3 nights at Disney's Fort Wilderness with a golf cart. Go big or go home, right? LOL

Thank you Roger for this nice pic of Bonnie and Cabby at the March show. 

I love Bonnie's contrasting outfit! It's a perfect backdrop for sweet boy Cabby. (Yes, I LOVE that wee boy!)

While I did the morning chores, Mark replaced Da Mounty's rear shocks. It didn't take anymore than an hour! (He surprised himself!) 

Then RanDawn phoned to invite us for supper ... and bring the Scotties. Nice! Meanwhile, Mark dropped me off for a much needed mani-pedi while he made 4 shopping stops. 

Hobby Lobby had everything I wanted ... a string or two of lights for the front porch, museum putty and 12' of rope lights for the RV plus a Route 66 hat for Mark. (I had a 49% off coupon!) Afterward, we took ourselves to Guadlajara for lunch ... with a 2 for 1 coupon! Awesome thrifty today, aren't we?

Sue and Wayne were in Palermo Sicily today and sent this picture. 

Dad was there during the war and developed a love for the people and food; especially the food. LOL

Speaking of food, Randy cooked 4 Kobe beef hamburgers on his barbecue. Many thanks to Bob and Jill; the first beef ever off Randy's barbecue. LOL. They were delicious. We teased him that the fat from the burgers got onto his chicken. LOL.  After supper, we played half a game of Mexican dominoes. Of course Robs got his barstool at the table, but Belize had to sit with either Mark or I. We don't trust her on a barstool yet. She's too fidgety. Belize certainly enjoyed the comforter on top of their leather sofa. She's a very good little visitor and gives everyone kisses! 

As you can see, the Mexican got pretty crazy-koo-koo! LOL. It was lots of fun! Randy was the big winner tonight followed by Mark and Scott. Dawn and I brought up the rear. Ha ha! 

At 10:30, we started out for home as Dawn works tomorrow. Ta ta. 

Pizza in Rome 3/14/16

Good morning. Well, the K's are living large and enjoying pizza and wine in Rome. (We had pizza cooked on our "Pizzazz" last night!) LOL. No, it's not the same. 

It looks good, Wayne. Is there "lotsa cheesa"? LOL. I love the gingham checked tablecloths. 

This morning, I reloaded the RV with clean laundry while Mark fixed a kitchen drawer slide. Today, it was very tough to back the beast into its port. Finally, we got it parked! Yay. Usually, we can get it in the first or second try, but today was just brutal. LOL. At most, there's 6 inches to spare; 3 inches on each side. When you consider backing 40 feet of beast in there, 3 inches isn't much.

Our friend Scott asked how long it takes to hook up our fifth wheel to the truck. I told him two minutes, and he said, everyone says two minutes but really, how long does it take? I timed it today, and it was one minute 32 seconds. Easy-peasy!

I'm reviewing and making changes to our household insurance policy. Good SAM suggested we might save $ by combining home, RV and cars. Well they did great covering our 3 vehicles and the RV, but I don't think the home insurance is do-able. We shall see. 

Here's a couple of hoot owls from the Suwannee Music Park. 

Hilarious! We nearly knocked the board over. 

In other news, it was Avery's 3rd birthday!

Here's our cutie (great) niece with her dog Roxy! We can't wait to visit her this summer! Muah. 

We 4 sat outside for happy hour and spotted Lew coming home with his "new" 2014 Nissan truck. We yelled to him and he came over for happy hour, several rounds. LOL. The Scotties love uncle Lew. Lynn arrived home half an hour later and came to join us. We caught up on neighborhood news and weekend events. We live in a great neighborhood. 

It's now 7 o'clock, and I hate to go inside as the weather is perfect. It's 78° low humidity and a breeze. Life is good. 

Problem, our friends Lew and Lynn just announced they are no longer doing their New Year's Eve party. Was wa waaa. Oh wait. We enjoyed having Les and Lynn and Randy and Dawn spend New Year's Eve with us! No problem, mate.

We had to laugh tonight. Belize found an old chew bone in the toy basket and decided to work on it. Of course that got Robbie interested! He hasn't worked on a Nyla bone for at least two years. Well subway tonight, it was fantastic. LOL For the past three hours, they have traded it off between them. Belize has given Robbie a new lease on life!  Sweet girl. 

Now, it's time to watch The Voice. Ta ta. 

Going Home - 3/13/16

Good day! We've enjoyed our 3 day RV weekend here and were pleasantly surprised by the quality talent around. Rain is moving in, so we're moving out. Right now, Mark and I are sitting on the sofa with our DSO and coffee while the kids enjoy "our" chairs! Brats!

We returned the golf cart at 11 o'clock, hooked up, closed the awning and folded the carpet. We sound like a couple of carpetbaggers. Mark did the flushing in the rain! Draft. We thought we had it beat. We left at 11:35. 

Kathy, Mark's cousin, posted on Facebook that her mom, Jane (and Cliff) adopted a five-year-old male Chihuahua – Sheltie mix named Beau. 

Beau will keep them active with walks and playtime. They both said "No more dogs!" when Sammi died 2 months ago about age 14-15. 

We arrived home about 3, just as the sky opened up! Haha. Good timing. The rest of our day was spent getting reorganized and doing laundry. 

Sue and Wayne are enjoying gorgeous views of the old cities. 

Tonight, they're cruising to Rome. Sightseeing tomorrow.

Randy & Dawn called to say they had a quiet weekend. Dawn was at work while Randy and Scott did a few chores around the house. 

So that's it for now. We're going to relax tonight and just watch TV.

Scavenger Hunt ... 3/12/16

Good morning. Yes, it's a bright beautiful sunshiny kind of day. We are still at the Suwanee Music Park near Live Oak, Florida!

Today's fun is breakfast with friends at 11, followed by a golf cart scavenger hunt at 1:30. 

At breakfast, we met Liz and Dexter who bought a Forest River, Salem tow behind.

They tried to rent a golf cart, but all were sold out. So we invited them to join us on the scavenger hunt. It'll be fun to have another couple with us. This is their first weekend with the new trailer! The "break-in" before RVing to Waco Texas and then Seattle Washington! Ambitious! LOL. 

We found the tree house ... 

It's really neat! 

This is our last find; the red white and blue painted tree. Hurrah! When we got back to Audreys, site 13, we expected cocktails, but were about an hour too late. Alas, we broke up and went home to walk the dogs but not before making a "bat" date. LOL

Going batty. LOL. I felt terrible as Robbie really wanted to sit on the seat. He is more trustworthy to sit on the floor quietly than I expect Bee would. 

At 6:30, we Took Belize and Robbie with us and headed over to pick up Liz and Dexter. We all went to see the bats at dusk. It was crazy, but as soon as we pulled up Belize started trembling. There were kids running all around waiting for the bats to come out. We weren't sure if it was the kids or perhaps the smell of the bats. Do bats have a smell? Regardless, she was trembling and trying to hide behind us. Cute girl!!! After that was done, we decided to take the doggies home and go for a drink at the music hall. We didn't realize auditions were on for the 2016 Suwanee Music Jam in late April. The entertainment was very good, and two of the contestants had been on "The Voice"! The only seats available were four barstools, perfect. We stayed a couple of hours, had wine and beer and watched the acts. At 10 o'clock, we snuck out and dropped Liz and Dexter at their RV. They told us they are hooked. They had a great weekend. We hope to see them as they don't live too far away from us. As we were leaving the bar, we saw Sally & Tom sitting at the barstools on the opposite side of the hall. 

Back at the RV, the doggies were very happy to see us. They have had a very busy few days.

Tomorrow, it's packing up and tidying up and driving home. Wha wa waaa. 

Chili Cook off ... 3/11/16

Good morning from Northern Florida! Robbie & Mark spotted a small gray fox from our Livingroom window. The birds are singing and our own little Billie goat climbed up on Mark's chair arm.

The Scotties and I slept great; Mark not so well. He'll catch a snooze later on. 

About 1030, Mark saw a brown horse gallop past our campsite; saddled but riderless. Four people on horseback (and one dusty walker) came toward us from the Horse Camping area. Mark pointed them down River Road. We jumped in the truck and went searching too. There are miles and miles of trails on these 800 acres. We didn't know if they would find the horse. About half an hour later, we saw them coming from the Suwannee River beach area at the end of the road! Fortunately, they had the runaway, not injured ... and still as frisky as ever. LOL. From appearances, it was very young! 

At 11 o'clock we picked up our golf cart, G 12,  lime-green like my 1970 Plymouth Duster. We hoisted our Jolly Roger flag, loaded up the kids and went to the Pickin' Shed and cruising. 

$35 a day ... cheaper than owning one!

Belize sat on the seat between Mark and I, while Robbie took the floor.

We started out very slowly not knowing what the dogs' reactions would be.

They both had a blast! Me too! We rode around the park and discovered a Statewide powwow setting up this weekend.

Back at the RV, Mark is cooking lunch while our toy charges for a drive to the beach and shopping village. 

We took the kids on the golf cart again for a ride. We went to the sand beach on the Suwannee. 

I think they had fun! The sand was flying!

Belize was the sand flicker. She had it in her beard and mouth. What fun! Tomorrow I'll vacuum the RV. Today, it's gritty floors! LOL

The Chili Cookoff was really good! We sat with Larry and Joanie from Palm Bay. They travel extensively with their Class C. We spotted Sally & Tom from Ocala who joined us at our table. It was a great time! We caught up on news and heard about tomorrow's planned fun. 

At 8 o'clock, we headed home on the golf cart to walk the dogs and decided to stay in for the evening. Ta ta til the morrow.