Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Good morning. It is a bright beautiful start to our day although a little chilly, in the 60s ... 75 later on. 

We’re going to Palm Gardens for lunch and to fuel up the boat today and the doggies are coming for a ride! I guess you could say it’s date day with the kiddos. 🐾💕😍 It was pretty choppy on Lake Eustis with a northwest wind at 15 miles an hour. Of course that doesn’t bother us at all in the pontoon boat, but we were bobbin’ along with the waves. 

BeeZee with Marky. 

Bad hair day ... BeeZee at the fuel dock area. 

On the way home, Robbie with Mark. 

Rick M FaceTime ‘d us today ... yeah, we had planned to call him on Sunday but the day got away on us with projects and partying. 🤪 They have some cool plans for the summer and are busy most weekends in the month of July. Plus, they have two family weddings this summer. Right after Rick phoned, Shay called to tell us that Roddy’s older brother passed away yesterday from liver cancer. He had been doing very very well 5 years recovered from stage 4 lung cancer. Eventually, it spread and he went quickly. 

Here are the promised pics of our Plantation shutters ...

Love them!

And, here’s our new 85 lb. area rug from Overstock.com ... it’s fabulous!

It’s PLUSH!

Tonight we’re off to Nancy’s for pulled pork sandwiches while the K’s are going to the yacht club for dancing! (Mark assembled the two arch lights for Nancy’s living room.) They look great! 

Like this one! We turned the shades so the lights aim upward and pulled the arms in various positions. Cool. 

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

🎼 It’s a rainy day in Florida 🎶 

Feels like it’s raining all over the world. 🌎 

😜 We’re in the soup here, a monsoon type of soup ... and it’s not clearing up til tomorrow. (Well okay, it was done by noon; but it felt like all day!) 😎

So, I spent a couple of hours finishing up at Nancy’s ...

Looking from front living room to dining room. How’s that archway look Randy? Note the designer trim work on the lower band. 👍🏻

Looking down the gallery hallway ... Egad that was a lot of trim work. 

The front room looks gorgeous in deep teal ... new “spider arc” lights are on order plus a sheer scarf valance for the windows. Love it! Even on a torrential rainy day it looks great. 

Meanwhile, Mark met with an A/C man at the project house ... he laughed. The units are so old and improperly installed that repair is impossible. Oh my. I’m glad I’m not the owner. 

Our new SHAG rug arrived this afternoon ... we had to shift the furniture out of the way to lay the 9x12 area rug. It looks awesome! (Pics tomorrow!)

Lew stopped by for happy hour and chatted for a half hour. Nancy may stop in after a meeting about 7:30. She’s a busy lady!  Tonight Sue and Wayne are getting the heavy rain; lovely here now. 

Yup, Nancy stopped in for a wine about 8 and we had some laughs. RanDawn called and the fun began; always some humor there. Ha. 

Now at 9ish it’s time for Deadliest Catch !!! 👍🏻

Monday, April 9, 2018

Good morning sunshine! Mark’s cooking chicken for the doggies along with a baked potato. They’ve been eating primarily human food for 2 months and Robbie’s lip sore has gone away. (We suspected it was a yeast problem.) anyway, we are supplementing with Dr. Harvey’s Veg-to-Bowl which has all the vitamins and minerals required for dogs. They sure look forward to their meal times.

Mark and Lew are across the street patching a hole in the roof they discovered yesterday, before this afternoon‘s rain showers. Nancy and I have a little trim work to do on the arch going into her dining room. It’s only a half hour task and it’s done! (Picture tomorrow!)

Sue has been keeping busy rescuing dogs ... there’s a tragedy playing out daily in our country. Whether it’s backyard breeders or puppy mills, there are a plethora of wonderful dogs on death row in shelters. Sue has been instrumental in reconnecting lost dogs with owners (cats too) and finding homes for others. What’s the answer? Mandatory spay and neuter? Responsible ownership of course; but often animals end up in a shelter through the death of an owner. Divorce is never a reason for giving up a family pet in my opinion. Three cheers for Sue for caring and getting these two adoptable dogs out of Miami Dade kill shelter in the nick of time. And, thank you to Wayne for going to Miami to retrieve and deliver them. 🐾💕 

This sweetie is being fostered ... 🐾💕

This tiny Chihuahua was adopted by Sue’s friend Margie! Congratulations. 🐾💕

We have some good news on aunt Jane. Daughter Barb arrived in town so little BoBo now has company at home ... and Barb had Jane out to a restaurant using a wheelchair and a walker. Things are looking up! We’ll get over this week to visit. 

Tonight’s American Idol ... fab talent this year and Katie Perry, Lionel Ritchie and Luke Bryant are so enjoyable to watch. 👍🏻

That’s it for tonight. We’re expecting thunderstorms about midnight ... so ta ta til morning. 

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Mark worked on the project house with Lew while I painted with Nancy. At the end of our project day, we met at Nancy‘s for a couple of bottles of wine. After 630, Randy and Dawn popped over to see what Nancy and I have been doing.  We sat on the back deck after admiring her fresh living room and dining room areas. We had plenty of laughs; her place looks fantastic! Mark walked over to Nancy’s, had wine with us then drove home on the golf cart. 

Admiring our handiwork, Randy suggested a finishing touch on the newly completed archway into the dining room. Hmm, well that’ll be tomorrow! 

Lew and Mark watched the NASCAR race after they finished their day across the street. They were exhausted! 

That’s it for today. 💤 

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Good morning. It’s a lovely start to our day but we hope the rain holds off until after our spring barbecue! 

We are taking an appetizer, Buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips. It’s been a hit at past barbecues. There are about 60 friends/neighbors signed up, so we should have a fun time.

Meanwhile at home, it’s clean bedroom carpet day. I’d love to replace the bedroom carpets with hardwood floors, but that’s going to have to wait two or three years as we have other more prudent projects to accomplish such as rebuilding 3 gables and a new roof.  It’s amazing to think we’ve owned this place 18 years this month! (The first 5 years were the busiest, renovation wise!) 

Aurelia called today. She and Tony spent two nights in Bay St. Louis (we like it there!) heading to Jackson then Memphis on their trek to Canada. They’ve been having a good trip! 👍🏻

Well, we had a heavy rain an hour into the BBQ but the sky cleared, the sun came out and we had a good time. The guys did a great job cooking the chicken and the pork ... and the side dishes were excellent. We drive The Caddy over to the party ... chairs on the roof; and Mark standing on the back bumper. Haha. 

Shortly after we got home, the front arrived with heavy rain for approximately half an hour. That was it. The storm has passed. 

Tonight, Sue and Wayne have gone to a country party at the yacht club. Sounds fun, and I wonder if it’s country dancing?

Us? Well we’re staying in tonight. The doggies will be happy to have us home with them. 

Friday, April 6, 2018

Oh yeah, it’s a gorgeous 66F this morning with 80 forecast by 4 o’clock. PERFECT 😎 🌴 (Perhaps it would be a fine afternoon for a boat ride and a trip to the fuel dock!) 

I love love love the Plantation shutters in our bedroom; it makes the room feel more “Floridaish.” 🙃 

Yesterday, Mark took a picture of the project house’s pool. The new owner is Mark too ... he laughed when he saw the pic and forwarded it to his friend Mark ... who in turn doctored the picture and ...

Voila! Do you see it? 😱

Robs and Beez loved their ride on The Caddy this afternoon. It was lovely with a little breeze. There are several new homes being built in the ‘hood and it’s nice to watch their progress. Also, 2 rental properties have been sold with new families moving in. Yay!

Mark had several chores to catch up on plus grocery shopping. (I offered to shop ... ) So, no boat ride this afternoon. Tomorrow we have our community spring BBQ lakeside ... about 60 will be there. Randy’s joining the fun too but Dawn’s working. 😒 (We like to say someone has to do it!) 

We’re wondering how Tony & Aurelia’s trip is going and where they are. I’ll have to ask the K’s tomorrow. 

Rick M must be keeping a low profile while his meniscus heals ... maybe we’ll FaceTime Sunday afternoon. 😛

That’s it. Telly time with the kids!

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Good morning. It was nice and cool this morning when we opened the front door at 7 AM. One of the squirrels had knocked over the birdfeeder, or possibly we had a visit from a bear. We will have to check the security cameras. Anyway, Mark and Lew have gone to the project house to do a little work today on the pool. The new owner is quite determined to go swimming as soon as he arrives in Florida at the end of this month. I don’t know, that sounds pretty ambitious based on the color of the pool water right now. 🤢 Ha ha ha. 

Lew tidied the Traveller Palms which have been expanding! It looks pretty good; nice cleanup!

The lower picture was before Lew started!

The guys devised a ramp so the frogs can climb out of the pool ... how sweet. 

Me? EBay sales have picked up so I listed a few more items and shipped one off in the mail. It’s a strange thing, sometimes things sell so quickly and sometimes nothing moves regardless of price. It’s like anything else, it depends on who’s looking. 

Randy and Dawn had a fun day at the Villages yesterday. They were among the missing as they went early to get their taxes done, shop, window shop, a movie and dinner, dancing and a late night bar. Wow, I feel like I had an incredibly lazy day compared to that. Tonight, they are joining in the neighborhood fun. Dawn is coming with me to Yaya‘s at Rose’s house and Randy is going with the guys to the Crazy Gator for pub supper. 

It’s now 9:20 ... Mark & Randy had fun with the guys; Dawn and I ate Taco “Pie” ... drank wine, played Pictionary and Charades and laughed. It was lovely sitting on Rose’s porch; such a beautiful evening. 

That was our day! It was a good one.