WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

Good day, eh! What shall we do on this last day of September? First ... Happy Birthday to our pal Bonnie Parker who is celebrating at a dog show, with 6 month pup Ella. 

Meanwhile, here's OUR show dog, er, show off his privates, Robbie the Bruce. 

Lookin' good, Robs. LOL

Today was "flu shot" day - "free" ... and we refilled a prescription at the same time. Mark and I always do our running about in one trip ... and our Kia is inexpensive on fuel, we filled up today for $20. Wow. Life is Good. LOL. After dropping me at home to do paperwork, Mark went to our Kia dealership for a free oil change. What could possibly be better than that? Ha!

Well, the proverbial wheels will fall off when we get the bill for our Grand Junction repair. LOL. In that particular case, the wheel really did fall off! 

Since the axle is scheduled for delivery tomorrow we will be off in the morning on our next adventure. "Jerry's" has assured us the work will be finished Friday! Sweet. 

We met Randy for bowling at 6 o'clock ... unfortunately, Dawn was working until 8.  We had three rousing games and lots of laughs; and a little beer. 

Randy was meeting Dawn for date night at 8 o'clock. Mark and I headed home after bowling to prepare for tomorrow's travel.

Our Florida weather forecasters are having a heckuva time predicting the latest hurricane. I think this graph clears it up.

LOL. Spaghetti!!!

Mark came in from walking Robbie and had seen a Luna moth. They are very rare and beautiful!!!

It's sitting in the light on our sumac tree! 

Can you see the moth on the right side of our 6' diameter Sumac tree? Big eh?

That's it for tonight. More tomorrow! Ta ta. 

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Yay! Our first cold front rolls into the peninsula today. Well, with 20% drier air ... and a few degrees cooler, it will feel like autumn. 

Last night at Stavros, we watched a very young child, about age 3, scroll through photos and use an iPhone 6. Of course we had to point her out to Randy who can't yet open or send a photo! LOL

Yesterday, Mark got an update on our Grand Junction repair. Apparently, the axle has been shipped from manufacturer Lippert. Yay. I hope we will be able to pick it up later this week. Another road trip!!! (Mark phoned about 4 o'clock today, and the owner, Jerry, was not aware whether or not the axle had arrived.) Tomorrow morning, we shall call Brad, our other contact. 

We stopped at our Humane Society shop and bought a few items. The 2 men manning the store were fun. I think it's been a slow day due to the rainy day. Anyway, they were happy to sell 7 items!  

Today's Walmart run was for the basics. We spotted Dawn working in the vision shop but she wasn't there when we checked out minutes later. Walmart had Mark's favorite Paisano wine for $10.97 and my Chardonnay for &12.97 ... Plus we needed two bottles for wine rack replenishment. When I got home, I unpacked the groceries and put the wine away. Well, I had to laugh. Years ago, when my mother broke a hip and was in the health center at John Knox, Diane went to visit and stayed a night or two at mom's apartment in Village Towers. She phoned Sue upset that mom had mass quantities of beer and wine but only a couple cans of tomato soup in her cupboard. Well, Sue and I thought this rather normal for mom ... after all, she ate many meals in the main dining room.  

As I was putting away our wine, I saw that Mark had 5 L of Cabernet and 6 L of Paisano. I have 6 L of Chardonnay plus a full wine rack. I laughed and told Mark. His response "well it is hurricane season!" LOL. THAT was my mom's response to us when questioned!!! Hahaha. 

So I think that was it for today. I did work on another necklace and photographed it; Mark puttered around getting a few chores done. So that's it for today. I hope you had a great second last day to September. Ta ta. 

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Good morning. Guess who had a bath this morning in preparation for seeing Randy and Dawn?

Haha. Robbie is so good when he has his bath in the kitchen sink! It's much easier on him than in the shower where the tile feels slippery. 

Mark and I left for the airport at noon, with the flight arriving 1:20 PM. We could have left 20 minutes later, as it was a good 1:45 before they made it to the baggage claim area. We never seem to remember that. LOL. Randy and Dawn had a wonderful location by all accounts. The weather was fantastic and they enjoyed seeing everyone. We were happy to have them back home and stopped in for a glass of wine.

Well, Robbie IS happy to see RanDawn ... but looking out that big front window is exciting! LOL

Grand Beach fun. Wo-hoo!

Tonight, Dawn wanted to go to Oakwood OR Stavros for dinner ... think "leftovers" for lunch tomorrow. Ha. So, we agreed on Stavros ... and met about 6:30. After a couple wine, and good food, they headed home for a solid sleep. Dawn works tomorrow. Drat. 

Sue and Wayne are going to Bobby Rubino's tonight ... 2 for $20 night. A bargain! 

Back at home, we watched DWTS and relaxed. We may be heading west to pick up our RV soon. Ta ta til tomorrow!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Good morning. Mark and Lew have gone scouting in a new area for deer hunting. This leaves Robbie and I to enjoy Sunday morning together. Chores finished, we sat down to watch the history channel where there's always something interesting on. 

Thank you to my cousin Patrick Tawns who pointed out this cartoon from 2000. Apparently history follows the Simpsons cartoon!!! OMG. 

Mark and I are at the end of our ropes with this sinus and bronchitis reoccurrence (cough) I've had since early July. Both of us think it has something to do with my thyroid. Once I started taking Levothyroxine back in May, I haven't felt right. Because of my TSH readings, I know I need thyroid replacement for my hypothyroidism. A good "Google" search provided some information for thought. T3 hormone must be made by the body from T4. In some people, the body is unable to convert T4 to T3 so the symptoms never go away. I guess it's another trip to the doctor with this question in mind. Side effects include sinusitis and bronchitis among a half dozen others. (Some doctors are not very pleased when their patients come in with Internet advice.) Ha!

Tomorrow, RanDawn arrive home from Winnipeg. We're picking them up at Orlando airport. Robbie is coming, of course! He's missed them as much as we have! 

Tonight, we watched 60 Minutes. Charlie Rose interviewed Vladimer Putin and then Donald Trump. It was great TV. (Mark slept through it!!!) LOL

Ta ta til tomorrow!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Well that was one crazy night! I went to bed at midnight and looked at the clock every half hour. Mark got up at 4:20 eager to start the first day of bow hunting. Me? Well, I got up too! For ... no reason. Haha. 

Anyway, chores were set aside as I headed to the garage to create eBay items. 

Mark arrived home about 1 o'clock. He spotted a deer by the truck, that was it. We had lunch and decided it was grocery shopping time! We're out of the basics!

Back at it in my craft room, I created a third necklace. Then, Lew phoned and invited us to dinner and drinks. Yeah. Lynn made chicken pasta and we played "Sequence". It's a tic tac toe board game with cards. The guys beat us, two to one! 

Now, here's something to make note of for Sunday night!!!

So back at home now, the Florida Gators won against Tennessee Vols. Yay. Ta ta til tomorrow!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

It's a fine start to the day ... 70F. My pal Bonnie, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, started her Christmas shopping with seven items from my eBay jewelry. Yay. This morning, I carefully packaged and wrapped everything ready for mailing.

Meanwhile, Diane phoned and wondered what we had planned. I mentioned lunch and a boat ride, so she and Bella decided to join us. Yay. (Kris was busy working on Diane's birthday present.)

Robbie and Bella got along very well. They both sat at the table at Palm Gardens. There was no growling or staring! They were both amazing.  On the boat, Robbie sat where he usually does with me and didn't move. Bella sat on Diane's lap and just enjoyed looking around. We had a bar type lunch under the cypress trees and watched the boaters coming and going. Mark checked the weather and thought we should start for home as storms were building. We cruised home and were inside 15 minutes before the first raindrops began. We had a beautiful afternoon. 

In our living room, Diane sat on the loveseat with Bella. I thought I should invite Robbie to sit with me so he wasn't the "lower" dog. As I said "Robbie, come sit with me!", Bella leapt off Diane's knee, bounded across the living room and up onto my lap!!! LOL. She was so fast all Robbie saw was a blur. Hahaha. Anyway, all was well. Diane retrieved Bella and went back to her sofa but Robbie didn't seem to care much one way or another! We were all amazed! When the rain quit, Diane headed for home and Mark took Bonnie's eBay package to the post office.

I finished 3 pair earrings and got motivated to make some new style necklaces tomorrow. Mark is going early tomorrow for opening day of bow hunting. We were both content to laze about this evening.

Hahaha. Okay, that's it for today. Ta ta. 

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Good day! It was a busy morning! Mark accomplished two handy-do-dee jobs. First, he installed rigid foam board around our water heater box ... then repaired a cracked tile in the Sun Room. Robbie helped as he thought Mark was lizard hunting. Haha. 

      This is me ...                This is Mark!

I puttered around until noon, then readied myself for Game Day at Carol's. She lives  5 houses away, so I walked there. I took my umbrella, just in case the weatherman was correct with his 4:30 showers forecast. (He wasn't! LOL)

Carol was a good host and had plenty of liquid refreshments. It was great fun. Six of us played Mexican Dominoes while 9 played Rummikube. It was noisy and wine added to the cacophony. Haha. We're getting to know the "new" Julie and decided she'd be Julie-Ann. (She preferred that to Julie Too.) Haha. 

At home, Mark took an eBay parcel to the post office and popped into Dollar General for a few items. These stores have sprouted up every few miles. A second store is opening by Mid-Florida Lakes just a couple of miles away! 

Tonight, Mark cooked a Tuna Noodle "stovetop" dinner. It was good! Afterward, we took Robbie for his evening walk then sat down for a quiet night. 

How was your Thursday? 

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Good morning y'all. The news today is all about Pope Francis being welcomed to the White House by President Obama. It was a ceremony with American pomp not often seen. Nice!

Did I mention my Blue Willow 12 place setting dishes sold on eBay? The buyer is driving from West Palm Beach to pick them up. Nice! (I really am downsizing ... from 6 sets of dishes to 5!!!) LOL

Mark has a follow-up appointment with Dr. Young at 1 o'clock. Otherwise, no plans today!  Later ... Doctor appointment prognosis, great ... all's well; cholesterol down!   

Well, it's now 1220 and my eBay buyer has been, packed the dishes (sort of) and left. Gosh, I would've never packed the dishes like that. She put a single paper towel between the plates! Yikes!!! Anyway, she paid and is on her way home, delighted with her purchase. 

Happy hour arrived and it was raining! Robs looked SO concerned. LOL We sat on the front porch with a glass of wine until the weather passed about 5 and we went for a cruise!  There's absolutely nothing like a booze cruise for 2 + 1. LOL It was beautiful ... a soft breeze ... and conversation.  

Tonight, Stavros leftovers ... and TV. It was a pretty good day! How was yours???

Our Florida fall color begins! Sweet. Ta ta for today. 

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

Wow! It won't be long til our northern pals start their trek south. Their leaves are changing color, there's a wee nip in their morning air ... and in Florida, I'm changing my door wreath from summer to autumn theme. Officially, fall begins in the early hours tomorrow! Today, will be 92°F. Alas. 

Mark and "Da Mounty" were off to the Ocala Forest by 9:30 to set up his beloved tree stand. Bow season opens Friday! 

Randy and Dawn said they had a nice evening out to dinner with Gregg and Darlene. Today, they're invited to Gregg and Darlene's home ... Crystal and Avery are coming over to see them! (I know Dawn is going to love little Avery.) I have asked Randy and Dawn to take a few pictures for my family wall. Because he's in Canada, pictures will not come through on text. (??? it may be operator error.) LOL. Anyway, I will get them when they arrive home next week.

Mark arrived home exhausted ... the jeep trail was closed! After years of wanting "a huntin' truck" and finally getting one, he had to park it by the highway and walk in, hauling his gear. After a shower and a beer, he was revived and we went to RanDawn's to water plants. All was well. We found the beer, wine and dog bones and had happy hour there. LOL. 

Mel shared an Instagram of Miles at a festival in Perth, Australia. 

Well, I don't know "Djoorap" but think it means "Welcome"! Lookin' killer Miles!!!

Sue went bowling today and was the high score in a couple of games ... besting "poor" Jack. Never mind Jack, bad games happen once in a while. Actually, in my case, more than once in a while. Ha ha. The important thing is to be out there having laughs and burning a calorie! 

This evening, Mark and I went to Stavros for dinner. The place was absolutely packed. We had trouble finding a parking spot. What's with that? It's only Tuesday night! Anyway, we did get a table and dinner was excellent, as usual. I had shrimp linguine with salad and garlic bread, of course, and Mark had mushrooms over spaghetti with meat sauce. Their portions are very large so we brought home enough for tomorrow's lunch. 

It was such a beautiful evening, we had a walk with Robbie when we got home and then sat on the front porch with another glass of wine. 

Now, it's time to relax and watch some TV. We're getting into a new series called "The Bastard Executioner". It's gory. 

I hope you day was grand. Ta ta. 

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Mark was away early for his scheduled laser eye surgery at 7:10. At 8 o'clock, he was still waiting...with "stickers" on his face. During his procedure, the laser had to be rebooted! He sat in position while the machine charged! All went well though and he was home by 10 o'clock. 

Bonnie and Roger attended Tulsa's Scottfest over the weekend. It brought back good memories of my time there in 2011. (I could scarcely walk, my knees were "bone on bone.") So glad I had double knee replacements!!! It changed my life. 

I worked on a project, a possible Christmas gift, for several hours after finishing laundry. It was quiet as Mark was napping and resting his eyes. In two weeks he will see the eye doctor for follow up. Maybe he won't have to use eye drops anymore! We shall see!

Isn't this the truth when icing a cake ... but Robbie's too short, so that's not it! LOL

Randy and Dawn enjoyed Saturday and Sunday at Grand Beach with Jeff and Lorraine. The weather was perfect, 26C and they enjoyed walking the beach. Tonight, they are visiting Gregg and Darlene then all going out to supper. We miss you guys!

Mark is cooking stuffed chicken breast for dinner with baked potatoes. It smells GREAT. The chicken is on a bed of lemon slices ... and spinach but I don't know what else. (Chef secrets!) Haha. 

Sue and Wayne and their doggies were invited to Carol and Jack's in Pompano Beach for dinner last night. Carol made a baked chicken dish using Crunchy (tinned) fried onions as a breading. Apparently, the recipe is right on the tin! Sue said it was delicious. I had a good time visiting.

So, that was our rather lazy Monday. Isn't it wonderful when we can have lazy Mondays now instead of hectic ones like when we were working!  

Ta ta til tomorrow!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2015

Good morning! Mark and Robs were up an hour before me (well, the 2nd time!) LOL. My allergy cough flared up at 5 a.m., maybe due to sitting "out back" last night. Our lawn man hadn't been for 8-9 days and, I guess, the tree pollen had built up on the patio. Rats!

So first thing, I had 2 eBay sales which morphed into 10 with minutes! The packing department (me) had no time to lounge about! Because I'm a "fuss-pot" (Dad used to call me that when I was over-doing something), it takes awhile to package items. Each piece has to be wrapped in color-coordinated tissue paper, then into a box, bubble wrapped and tied with a color appropriate ribbon ... then into the mailing box. Hmmm, maybe Dad WAS right. LOL 

Meanwhile, Mark took off for the great outdoors to trim our many palm trees!  Hiding out from moi, I suspect. Haha. 

I love this, but I sure do wish that the person spelt "their" correctly. Drat. 

Well, Mark made his averages in bowling, but I did not!!! Anyway, we burned a few calories and had some fun! Now, back home, it's jammer:30 and TV with Robbie on the foot rest of my recliner. Life is good!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2015

Guess who has a birthday today? Right! Happy happy dear sister!

There's a new addition to our clan. Diane and Kris helped a friend who could no longer care for her dog, due to illness.

Here's Bella, a wee Chihuahua! Congratulations to Diane & Kris on being rescued from doglessness!!! Yay!

What's up around here? Hmmm, more "work" on a Christmas gift I'm creating ... checking RanDawn's home, and perhaps bowling. Yeah, it's been awhile. 

There's a new Mrs. Tawns on our planet! 

Center ... James & Anita Tawns ... Australia (What an entrance, eh?) That's a badass 'copter, Jim!

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

Mark slept 10 hours and felt great when he got up! Me, I managed about seven, and felt great. Besides, there was another Ancient Aliens to watch. LOL

While checking RanDawn's house, Mark picked some red and green peppers. He's cooking a batch of venison chili for tomorrow's football game! Actually, though, we don't think that game will be televised locally. We may have to go to Gator's Dockside to watch! Drat. Haha. 

I puttered on my current project and burnt my finger with the hot glue gun. Yeowser. The worst part is, I had to bite the hot glue to get it off my fingertip. Haha. It was rather like a wolf chewing ... oh, nevermind. When I peeled the glue off, two layers of skin went with it! So, I did what any normal person would do ... I glued it with Crazy Glue. All fixed!

Tonight's happy hour was at the canal as it was such a lovely cool evening. Tomorrow, we are expecting a heatwave to roll in with temperatures of 90 for 3 days. 

Robbie, enjoying happy hour at the canalfront. 

Tonight, Mark is cooking meatballs, from scratch, along with pasta! Yum!

(Very good meat-a-balls-a!!!) LOL. I-a ate-a 2! ;-)

Okay ... that wraps up our day. Mark's watching football ... I'm sitting. Haha. Ta ta. 

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

Oh, I'm up way too early ... stressing about our RV sitting in Alabama! So, I emailed the axle manufacturer at 5 a.m. ... we'll see. 

Ha ha. About 1030, I had a reply from Lippert, the axle manufacture requesting further information. They needed the VIN and axle number to search for MY dealer looking for it on my behalf. (There wasn't anyone looking!) I phoned Jerry's RV six times before noon, but no answer at the office. I reached Jerry, on his cell. He was quite helpful, and told me that Brad was on top of it. Much later in the day, I called Jerry's again. This time, Brad was in and I spoke with him. He told me he had spoken with Lippert and they had several axles in stock, but he needed more information to determine which axle we needed for our Grand Junction. (Brad was waiting for Jerry to crawl under the RV to get the information.) 

"I have a photo of the label and sent it to you Tuesday. Long story short, I resupplied the photo to Brad who called Leffert. Our new axle must be custom-made and will take approximately seven days, then be shipped by freight truck. I don't think we're getting our RV home until the early part of October. Oh well, it'll be a lovely trip to see the leaves changing! Of course, the axle we need is nearly triple the price of the "in stock" axles. Well, big toys cost big bucks ... and if you want to play, ya gotta pay. 

This afternoon, I worked on more items for Sawgrass Nature Center. We both enjoy their silent auction and dinner party, but we shall see. About 5 o'clock, we went to Advantage Dodge to pick up our truck. All maintenance was completed plus we, apparently,had a broken apparatus on the power steering. We didn't know anything about it! LOL Anyway, all was fixed for just under $1000.  

Mark thought we'd go out for dinner tonight, but stayed home and ate my favorite, Kraft Dinner (original with powdered cheese) and hot dogs. Ha ha ha. 

Tonight is my favorite TV show, Ancient Aliens. I reminded Sue to watch it, but she's scared, although fascinated. LOL. (She was busy adding new items onto EBay for Shih Tzu Rescue's page. 

So that's been our day. During this, Mark began pressure washing the driveway, dirty, after so much rain this summer. 

G'night. 

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Good morning! Did you watch the GOP Presidential Candidate Debate last night? It was 3 hours long ... front runner "The Donald" may have been taken down a notch. Carly Fiorino made a strong presence. Also, Dr. Carson showed he was clearly a contender. It's going to be an interesting year! The Democrats debate in October ... will Joe Biden be there?

In other news, Robbie had a vet appointment at 2:30 for his "3-year" rabies shot. Meanwhile, we ran several errands and dropped the Dodge off for maintenance service, stopped at the bank, Pet Supermarket and Walmart. 

At 2:30, we stopped at the post office to mail raincoats for the K's doggies, one eBay sale package and then to the vet's for Robbie's three-year rabies shot. The law in Florida changed in January of this year. If you are even one day late getting your dog's rabies shot, you can no longer obtain a three-year shot. One year is the maximum. Since we were two days early, we were qualified to get the three-year shot which is, the same as a one-year shot ... it just cost more. WTF? It's true. This is the same rabies vaccine given in Canada valid for seven years. (I don't know if it still a seven year vaccine in Canada, but it's the same dosage.) It's mystifying, isn't it?

Anyway, we had a great visit with Mr. Whiskers, the resident office cat. Robbie ignored him, even when the cat jumped onto Mark's lap! 

Mark and Robs moved after a few minutes, and I sat next to Mr. W. and gave him plenty of attention. He's a very sweet kitty. 

I was busy creating a Fluorite stone necklace for Sawgrass Nature Center's annual fundraiser auction. Mark created a delicious dinner ... Nice. Happy hour was enjoyed on the front porch during a light rain. 

It was a good day! Arooooooo!!!

Ready for a dose of adorable-ness?

Hahaha. Cute, eh?

Advantage Dodge called with an estimate for maintenance... $1,040 ... a new water pump ... rear axle bearing service. Whatever!

After dinner, Mark settled into a football game while I made 5 pair of earrings for donation. Tomorrow, I'll polish and box them for mailing. 

So that's our hustle bustle day in a nutshell. How was yours?

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Wowser! We slept 10 hours! You'd think we were stressed out or something. It was nice to wake in our own bed at home. Apparently Robbie thought so too! He slept just as long!

Mark phoned Jerry's in Tuscumbia for an update ... Lippert, the axle manufacturer, hadn't responded to their phone call nor email. :-(

So, Mark decided it was a good time to wash the RV port. I had one eBay offer on a silver necklace which I accepted. Once they paid, will be off to the post office and other errands. Yesterday, I was an overachiever and did three loads of laundry from our RV trip ... unpacked and sorted. It's nice to take it easy this morning. Our birdfeeder needed filling and the two birdbaths, one is for the squirrels, needed scrubbing and fresh water. Apparently we had had enough rain that they were both still full. Sweet. 

(I would have said FABULOUSNESS!!) LOL

Tonight, we feasted on "Mom's" Pork Chops & Rice and drank wine on the front porch during the rain. It was a perfect evening. Ta ta til tomorrow. 

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Good morning from Perry, Georgia where it's 54F and sunny. Breakfast, done ... packing up, done ... and off for home at 8 a.m.

Robbie was very good on his first (ever) hotel stay. He woofed once or twice, but settled in quickly for the night. 

Beautiful fountain grass in center median in areas of Georgia. 

Sue and Wayne left their campsite in Ocala, Florida headed for Melbourne at 9:30 ... to look at a boat.  We've been chatting back-and-forth with text messages ...

(It used to CB banter back in the day.)

(Hmmm ... Mark and I get less mileage; more like 15!)

After mulling over our bearing/axle issue, we've decided to replace all bearings ... with new decorative caps. Of course 1 axle will be new which includes the spindles. There will be another checklist item added to our pre-trip list. 

We arrived home in Florida at 1:06 PM. Everything was fine with the house so we unloaded and started some laundry! Yay. Ha! I gathered the 3 eBay items, packaged them and Mark went to the post office. Our postal clerk, Sherry, had a good laugh when Mark told her the story about the tar pot truck losing a tire (and Mark referring to him as a dumbass), and then the same thing happened to us a week later!!!

Well, tonight is going to be laundry and TV. It's not too exciting around here at this moment.

Sue and Wayne arrive home to Pompano after four months away. There will be lots of unpacking and sorting to be done at their house. 

Pam phoned tonight to get the lowdown on our adventures. She was back to work today.

Randy and Dawn are going to see Jim's new cottage on Clearwater Bay. Afterwards, he is coming back to Bob and Jill's for dinner with them. I bet they have a wonderful evening! Cheers!

It's happy hour here now, and time to walk Robbie. Tata for now!