TwoWaggingTales2

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Good morning. It’s currently 78° at 6:30 in the morning. Yesterday was bloody hot at 97. The dogs did not have their usual walk As we came home from Summerfield in a heavy rain storm. That lasted until 10:30 in the evening.

Anyway, we got a lot done yesterday despite not getting there until 130. I had an appointment with Dr. Garcia to get my new crown cemented on. It’s perfect, the color is good and it’s comfortable. She warned me, we cannot re-crown this so make it last. 😬 At nearly $2000 for one crown I will make it last as long as possible!

Yesterday at the house, I finished cutting in with the secondary color and Mark began rolling. He bought an 18 inch roller and ginormous “rolling” bucket that holds a gallon of paint at a time. (He was so impressed with his purchase that he did all the rolling in just a few hours!!!)

You can see the feature wall color “Grand Canal” around the doorway and the more subdued “Tidewater” in the dining room. It may be difficult to imagine how it will be once there are curtains and artwork on the walls. And furniture other than two saw horses and a ladder. 🫣

Where the 10’ ladder is against the “Grand Canal” color wall will be the white fireplace and white window trim floor to ceiling. Maybe not immediately, but eventually there will be white plantation shutters on the two windows at the rear of the living room. Again, hard to picture when you don’t know the scheme.

This photo is looking at the living room high gallery area and down the hall to the bedrooms. After I snapped this pic we painted the upper portion with Tidewater. The edge of the ledge will be done with the darker color.

On Monday I went to the house to do some painting and meet with the roofer to sign the contract. That work is starting today! Meanwhile, Mark met with a Boat buyer, took the guy for a ride on the lake. He was a definite buyer as he had borrowed a boat trailer to take it home. After a little finagling, Mark and the buyer headed to the bank to complete the deal!!! So, Mrs. R. B. will now be a rental pontoon boat in New Smyrna Beach area!

That’s the end of an era … I had been a boat owner since the age of 19. (I had five boats in Canada and five in Florida!)

Yesterday afternoon, we had our second showing on our home. No feedback yet … I am really hoping for an offer, obviously. It’s not easy living in a place with three dogs and being ready to show! Yikes.

So that’s it for now. Mark is having a sleep in and the dogs are bugging me for breakfast.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Hey, we closed on our “new” home yesterday at 11 o’clock. The seller was a lovely older man with a Frenchie named Pierre! All went well with paperwork. Next stop was the water utility company then onto the association office. NEXT Wednesday we have orientation and get our gate clickers.

At the closing office … I matched the decor. 😂

In the afternoon we introduced Robbie, BeeZee and Wyatt to the new house. They had high energy looking around for Pierre. 🐾 Diane & Kris came over … (he hadn’t seen it yet.) We think Kris liked what he saw “wow!” And when he saw the huge garage “Holy Shit!” 😂

Today, Mark and I arrived back to the house around 11:30 and began some housekeeping. I tackle the kitchen cabinets and Mark did the living room fan and and thoroughly cleaned the refrigerator. The vent in the back was totally blocked and a lot of dust and dirt on the floor behind it. You know, Not the worst we’ve encountered.

About 3 o’clock, Randy and Dawn and granddaughter Kenna arrived for a visit. Randy said he wanted to see it before everything was changed. 😂 They were off for lunch and then dropping Kenna off.

Mark and I worked for another hour and then came home. Tomorrow we are taking a day off and going out with friends for dinner. Saturday, we will get back at it and meet up with Kris and Diane to pick up some paint and look at some possible flooring I think Nancy may join us on Saturday

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Good afternoon! Aurelia’s been missing my Blog … so here’s a catchup!

Diane & Kris are in there new ranch home as of June 25th! Of course they’re still getting settled but are enjoying it all. Kris cut the grass yesterday with his riding mower! Their former home is on the market.

Sue & Wayne are enjoying summer at their cottage and seeing the Canadian family and friends. Mark and I planted a new Oak Holly tree for them at their Florida home yesterday.

Randy & Dawn joined the group to celebrate the birthdays last Sunday at Sakura Japanese Hibachi. It was a fun night with great food. We’ll do that again soon! The grandkids are growing up and Kenna turned 16. RanDawn went to St. Augustine and Ormond Beach for a quick birthday getaway!

Us? We’ve been dog busy! Belize continues to do well after her 3rd Chemotherapy. The doctor added radiowave therapy last Wednesday and she seems to have done better! There was no loss of appetite.

BeeZee’s proud of her many outfits and I’m busy with laundering them. UTI’s are part of the result from the radiation last January. Bladder tissue is sloughed off and UTI’s occur. So, bladder control isn’t 100%.

Today Robbie met Dr. Bolfer, the Cardiologist, for his first heart checkup. Recent bloodwork showed an enlarged heart but we’ve caught it early and no meds are needed yet.

Robbie’s missing an eyebrow from a wart removal 3 weeks ago. He’s hale and hearty at 14 1/2 years. ❤️

Wyatt’s been a healthy guy, thank goodness! He and Robbie had a tussle in the backseat of our KIA yesterday afternoon. No big injuries and Robbie is still King.

AND NOW THE BIGGEST NEWS …

We’re making a move 39 minutes north and much closer to family! Our Harbor Shores home will be on the market Wednesday.

More info to come!

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Good morning! It’s been a minute since adding to my Blog.

April flew by with helping Diane & Kris prepare for moving. They’re both “collectors” and are moving into a smaller home.

Belize had her 3 month cancer scan April 24th. Our next appointment will be May 8th with the chemotherapy oncologist. Vinblastine is recommended. Since the scan the poor wee girl has been incontinent. We ordered some fancy ruffled pants for her to wear! She looks cute in them.

Randy and Dawn may join us for the November cruise we’re planning. It would be fun to have them join us!

Spring is in full bloom at our house! The Hawaiian Plumaria is gorgeous.

The white flowers behind are Gardenia. Heavenly fragrance!

Funny picture of Wyatt … he’s standing up to my recliner looking for a pat; then sensed Robbie staring him down. 😂

I will add some pictures from the derby party later on.

Dawn’s fascinator was the best! (The house is so bright this pic looks washed out.)

Lynn & Steve (married 2 years now.)

Nancy looking lovely … the flowers on her hat didn’t last through the wind!

It was a fun party! Pat & Ken put a lot of thought and effort into making things run smoothly.

😂 Dat’s it for tonight!

Monday, April 14, 2025

Happy 12th birthday to our sweet BeeZee!!!

We took Bee to Lake Eustis Waterfront Grill for lunch … Shrimp basket and fries! She enjoyed being in her stroller and watching boats and birds. (Robbie and Wyatt stayed home today.) It would’ve been too much to have three dogs at the restaurant. Nancy and Linda were there holding a nice patio table when we arrived.

Back home the boys had leftovers of fries! I managed to paint a couple of hours while everyone else napped.

Our sweetie! So happy she’s here with us for this big birthday. (Without January’s radiation treatments, she wouldn’t be.)

April 24th we’re going to University of Florida for a scan on BeeZee. Based on potential findings she may begin chemotherapy. We shall see. One day at a time.

Saturday night when we were sitting on the front porch having a cocktail, we were surprised to see a SpaceX rocket launch. You can see it be beside the full moon.

That’s it for today. ❤️

Monday, April 7, 2025

Good morning. It’s time I filled you in on our experience with allegiant airlines. Last Sunday we were to fly home from Asheville, North Carolina into Daytona Beach/Sanford airport. That is the base of allegiant airlines.

We were to fly out Sunday at 7:15 PM but received eight text messages of delays. Finally, when it was too late to do anything else, the flight was canceled. Over 100 people stood around gate four trying to find other avenues of travel to reach their destinations.

We waited in line to talk with representatives at gate 4 for several minutes. Nothing was being announced and we couldn’t get on allegiant airline website. It had crashed With no flights available for the next day as on allegiant the best they could do was a flight on Tuesday with four seats available or Thursday. We had to get home! Stat.

I called out from the queue “where’s our luggage?” At the carousel, was the response from a gatekeeper! Seeing nothing was being done to get anyone on flights other than allegiant, we went to the carousel to pick up our bags. There was a guest services woman who I asked for help. And, she was wonderful. She found us a hotel room at the Clarion and arranged for shuttle service. Now, we had a room for the night.

We hold our luggage with us and went to the rental car counter. Most were closed up, but one window was open. A woman and a man had just secured the last, one way car. She offered to split the rental with us and drive to Florida. Well, we didn’t take that offer. And looking back, how could it have been a legitimate one-way rental when as we found out a few minutes later, they never do one-way rentals from the airport rental fleet.

At 12:30 AM at the Clarion hotel, we had run out of options for renting a car to drive home! So, Mark made a phone call to budget car rental finding a phone number on a Google search. Well, that turned out to be an interesting conversation. Mark got someone by the name of Victor operating in a very noisy background likely in a very foreign country. Twice we thought we had been abandoned, but Victor came back on the line and reassured Mark that he was working on it.

Victor found a Ford focus or similar car, one-way to Florida, one way for $986 through Hertz. Mark signed off on it on his cell phone. (I I was, meanwhile, searching for other flights to Florida. One way seats for two of us would be $1200. Allegiant Doesn’t have reciprocity cooperation from other airlines and we felt backed into a corner.

The next morning at the Hertz rental car window at Asheville airport at 7:10 another gracious woman was checking in to her job. She opened the window for us and asked what we needed. Well, there was no car rental information for us there. Obviously, we had been scammed. She thought perhaps it could have been a “corporate” rental and left her post to walk down to the garage to see if there was a car available or if anyone knew about it. Well, the rental car manager from the garage found us a Camry and was having it washed for us. When the woman at the rental wicket rang it up, she was shocked to see that it was 500 and some dollars. She thought that was a terrible price … but we told her we had been quoted $986. She said well there’s nothing on here to indicate that you paid anything last night. So, we left her a nice tip and got in the car and drove all day to get home to Florida.

Once home, I called the credit card company and found out that there was a 400 and some odd dollar charge going through under “car rental” … And another for actual payment we had authorized at Hertz.

Had we been duped? I started a dispute with the “car rental” charge but will not know an outcome until late May.

The scammers online are shrewd operators . Mark called budget car rental, with the phone number on Google, and wound up with a Hertz rental and a finders fee paid to the scammers. What a world we live in.