Thursday, October 3, 2024

Good evening! It was a much nicer day! Mark was off scouting in the forest earlier. I had a sleep-in til 8 o’clock. The Scotties were happy to see me … probably thought they were home alone. 🐾😍

Tonight was YaYa’s at Rose’s house. She loves to bake so we knew some goodies would be on the table. It was such a nice evening, no game, just chatting. 

There were 11 of us … Linda K slipped out before I could get a picture! 

Mark had a night out with a couple of the guys at Miller Ale House and had a great Mahi sandwich.  

That was our day in a nutshell. We haven’t heard if Jeremy & Abby’s wedding is on schedule in Asheville. So, we’re cautiously optimistic the venues will be in business by then. 

Tuesday October 1st 2024

Hey hey hey it’s OCTOBER! Cooler mornings, dryer days, leaves changing color … yeah, not here, not just yet. 😂 

We did have an exciting day! Our friend Nancy sold us her 2015 GMC Acadia which is in lovely condition. I drove it to Tavares motor vehicles while Mark investigated the buttons and knobs. We didn’t wait long before being called to see Doug. He was so nice that we all had a few laughs while paying the tax, tag and title fees. 

Mark had a text from Paula in Asheville. She was contemplating getting out of the area, possibly relocating. We worry about looters having seen some news coverage about it. The National Guard is present of course. 

So, the Vice President hopefuls debated last night. We watched the volley of questions until we couldn’t stand anymore and switched over to Deadliest Catch. 

Just a couple of giggles … 

Ta ta. 

Monday September 30, 2024

Good evening. Watching the 6:30 news and more pictures from the Southern States and North Carolina devastated from last week’s hurricane. It’s going to be months before things are anywhere near normal. 

Normal. A rather boring word. But oh do we wish for normal when things spin out of our control.  We’ve experienced days with power and terrible cleanup after storms, but nothing like this! 

Mark’s sister texted him that she was heading to family or friends in Greenville. We’re concerned about her being stranded on the single lane of traffic out of Western N.C.  The line for gas was a mile long. Then of course you’re leaving house and contents to looting. Sad time for thousands. We offered she fly here and stay awhile. 

Then there’s Jeremy & Abby’s wedding in mid October. We’re flying to Asheville for the wedding, whether it be the formal affair that’s planned or a Courthouse marriage. We want to see everyone. The hotel’s in the Biltmore area … maybe we be in boots rather than dress shoes? Today, it was still raining in North Carolina from remnants of Helene. Terrible situation. Equipment from other States is being delivered on air transports. 

In good news, the K’s arrived home safely today. It was a wet and windy trip from Canada. 🇨🇦 Welcome home. 

Sunday September 29, 2024

Good evening y’all. It’s been a sleepy day for me … however, not for Mark. 

Firstly, all was good at Sue & Wayne’s house on Friday. The Villages had a few areas of leaf debris along the streets, otherwise nothing. Diane & Kris have a big, well treed lot and they had enough to pick up. 😂

Kris had some dental work done and was sore. We recommended “thoup” … guess it wasn’t that funny to anyone with a sore mouth. 😂

Randy checked in on us yesterday. He has another procedure for kidney stones in his near future. When it rains it pours.  Dawn has her sister arriving and they’re going to Disney with “all the kids.” Mark thinks Randy said there’s 15 in all … and he’s happy to stay home alone. 😂  (This seems to be an annual tradition with Dawn’s family.) Have a blast kids!

Yesterday, Mark discovered a wet corner in the garage! He took the baseboard off and discovered water had wicked it’s way up the wall. So, first thing was to get a fan on it. This morning he was on the roof … caulked a seam where the house and garage roofs meet. No evidence of a leak there but … maybe. This afternoon he’d thought more about it and pulled the kitchen fridge out. There was the culprit … a fitting on the waterline had a tiny drip. It’s been dripping back there since we ran the generator for a power outage in July! 

So … tomorrow a new .50 cent part and $100 worth of fix-its. 🙄 We should have bought shares in Home Depot 30 years ago. 😂 You see, when the power was out in July Mark pulled the fridge out to plug it into an extension cord which ran through the house and out the back window to our portable generator. (Yeah, it’s not an easy flip of a switch here!) Anyway, so happy it wasn’t a roof issue. 😅

It was a couple days worry about our North Carolina family as Hurricane Helene hit their area. We knew cell phone towers were down and power off from the news. Later in the day Jeremy posted on Instagram that he and Abby were safe in their home but roads flooded. It was hours of texting family til Paula made it down from her mountain home and discovered cell service at an old Sears parking lot. We were able to tell her Jeremy & Abby were okay at their house. Of course they didn’t have power either. Paula made it to Jon’s house … no Jon, no electricity and no water service. Rumor has it the reservoir for Asheville’s water source was breached. It wasn’t til hours later that Jon made it home from the Grove Park Inn. That place closed indefinitely so guessing flooding and damage there. Olivia & Brian eventually found Paula at Jon’s and were able to confirm Marshall & Savannah were okay. What a mess that area’s in. Who would have thought it could hit this beautiful mountain area so badly. If you haven’t been there, every mountain town has a stream, river or creek. When it rains … well it has to go downhill. 🤷‍♀️ I’ll post a few pictures. 

Mark and I RV’d to these beautiful spots over the years. We could not have imagined such destruction could take place. Hurricane Helene was a massive storm, 450 miles wide. It was a category four when it hit the big bend area of Florida. Devastation there was expected, even annihilation. But, to have gone so far north and caused this type of destruction is mind blowing. 

All is well here, and we are happy to be in central Florida  Could we get this here? Well, we could certainly have rising water, but we don’t have the mountains to filter it all down into the rivers and streams. But yes, some areas of Florida are more prone to flooding than others.  

That’s it for today. We’re thinking of Bonnie and Roger who have been recovering from the tornado last May. They have left on their Mediterranean adventure today and we wish them a wonderful trip.  

Ta ta. 

Friday September 27, 2024

Good afternoon all y’all. Wyatt and I poked our noses outside at 5 o’clock when it was still dark outside. Our property was in good shape and the air was still. Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 monster, 400 miles across! I couldn’t believe Mark, the Scotties and I slept through the night. 🌀💨🌧️ 😴 

Since we had electricity still (!!!) I sorted the ton of vacation laundry and started a load. Most of it had to be hung to dry so it looked like (as mom always said) “the Chinese laundry.” 😉 

I felt pretty good when I woke up having emptied the 4 suitcases yesterday afternoon. There was a muddle to put away but not too bad. Mark slept til 7:30 when I sent the kids in to wake him. 🐾 There’s nothing like the pitter-patter of 60 Scottie toenails on the wood floor. 🤣

Nancy was without power for about 12 hours … we offered to help her with the generator if needed. (We’re taking our meds for the dreaded Covid plus trying to relax. The tough part is realizing nobody wants to see us. 😜 Hopefully we’ll be back in the groove soon. 

Sue & Wayne are concerned about their Villages home so we’ll drive there tonight and check it out. Mark’s starting a big batch of chicken for the kids. (There’s still food in the freezer for them … but we gotta fill those empty freezer dishes.) 

The sun is shining! It’s going on 4 o’clock … and that’s it for today’s R & R. We’re off to The Villages. There’ll be some tidy up outside no doubt, spray the weeds and do our regular housesitting chores. 

Ta ta! 

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Good evening. We are here safely at home but watching the hurricane coverage with this category 4 storm going into the big bend area of Florida. We are going to have some wind tonight, somewhere around 40 to 50 mile an hour.

Our flight home yesterday was about half an hour late leaving, but somehow we made it up and got in on time. 

It was a fairly smooth ride considering we were going into the storm area near Florida. 

I could keep an eye on the pilots from my seat! 😂Excellent service on British Airways … champagne was flowing freely … then a choice of 3 course lunches. Mark and I had the Chicken Curry. 

Mark was enjoying the flight until we started descending from 38,000 feet. Then his head felt full and stuffy. By the time we landed his eyes were red and he couldn’t hear anything. 😳

This hurricane is 400 miles wide, so it was difficult to avoid it. Nonetheless, we got into the Orlando Airport fine, going through customs was easy, especially having that known traveler information added to our flights. We had a little trouble finding our hired ride home. The woman was on the wrong level waiting for us. Then, she told us to go down to the first level and she would pick us up. But that didn’t work either so we had to haul our 4 bags back up where we originally were. In future, I think we would just call Uber once we got our bags. 

The ride home was hair-raising too!  She’s quite a talker and likes to talk with her hands … off the steering wheel. If she wasn’t talking with her hands, she was patting her dog Georgie who was sitting in the front seat. We tore up her business card when we got home and won’t be using her service again.🙄 

Nancy had the house nice and tidy for us and all the bedding had been washed. We had a drink with her last night and did a few chores, then went to bed about 10 o’clock. It was so nice to sleep in our own comfy bed.

This morning, Mark wasn’t feeling well and found out he has Covid. There were a lot of people on the tour bus coughing a few days ago, so I guess that’s probably the source. Anyway, he got a telephone visit with the nurse practitioner and I picked up medication for both of us at Walgreens. The nurse practitioner felt that if Mark had it it’s inevitable that I will eventually have it. So … we’re treating it even though I’m testing negative. (I do have a raspy voice, but have a attributed it to my Gerd.)

The kids were excited to see us, but obviously had been having a lot of fun with Nancy. There were toys scattered about and they were happy. We think maybe BeeZee had put on a little bit of weight as she was walking like a walrus. 😂 We intended to weigh them this morning, but forgot. Maybe tomorrow.

Randy and Dawn called this evening and we had a good chat. Randy has been having some health problems … it’s been just one thing after the other. Hopefully he’s on the mend.  ❤️‍🩹 

It’s now just after 10 o’clock and we’re getting some winds around 40 to 50 mile an hour. It’ll be a windy night, but hopefully nothing more than that in our area. We feel for the people in the path of this monster storm. I hope they have heeded the warning and evacuated as necessary. The area where it’s coming in to Florida floods easily with a high tide. They’re talking a big storm surge with hurricane Helene. 

That’s it for tonight. Stay safe wherever you are.  

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Good morning from B.A.’s lounge at Gatwick where we’re still being treated extremely well. 🇬🇧 But as Sue texted me, “Welcome back to reality!” Darn. Is the party over? (Not according to Mark!” 🥳❤️

There’s a full self-serve bar in the lounge. (Someone’s going to sleep on the flight! 😉)

Yup! That’s a party waiting to happen! 🥳

We don’t know our flight gate yet as our plane has yet to arrive. No worries.