SUNDAY DECEMBER 7, 2014

Early this morning we lost our dear love, Maggie, to the ravages of Lymphoma cancer. She accepted her numerous treatments, pokes and prods with quiet dignity and with a tail wag for everyone. 

Maggie, age 1. 

Maggie, age 8 ... taken just a week ago. 

We tried to help her overcome this horrid disease and enjoyed our last months with her. Extra walks, extra treats, extra love; and a deep loss today. We felt she had a good chance for a long remission, but it was not to be. Rest easy, dear girl. You are truly loved and deeply missed. 

SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 2014

19 days til Christmas!

Good (early) morning. Mark was up early for hunting in the Ocala Forest ... this means I'm up early too. Haha. So, I watched Ancient Aliens ... this one about the resurrection ... fascinating; gets the mind working. 

It's foggy and cool ... 64F this morning! 

Haha ... love this cartoon. 

Randy and Dawn are going to Pompano Beach on the bike today. Dave Giannone's Christmas party is tonight, and the toy run tomorrow. The weather looks perfect, according to ONE forecast. Haha. (The other forecast is a little dubious with a front coming in from the north!) Hey, it's only liquid sunshine anyway!

Today is the Shih Tzu Rescue garage sale in Pompano! 

Update ... Randy and Dawn arrived safely in Pompano and went to the garage sale. Sue didn't get the message through Wayne that they were coming, so she was very surprised to see them! Haha. Where's Wayne's memory hat??? They did very well at the garage sale, having made $540 for rescue. 

Today, Maggie had a fever so we have been giving her Gatorade and putting ice packs on her. We hope tomorrow will be a good turnaround day for her. 

Tonight is good football ... Oklahoma Sooners against the Oklahoma State Cowboys! So, Ta ta for now. 

FRIDAY DECEMBER 5, 2014

20 days til Christmas! 

The Delta IV Heavy Rocket launched at 7:05 AM and the rumbles were heard at our house 60 miles away for a long long time! Awesome! This is the beginning of a new era of space travel. Although today is a test, in 2020, it will be a manned flight to Mars!!! 

Oh I'm so excited. Ha ha. Well, good morning from Central Florida and the exciting Space Coast. 

Mark offered to drive Maggie to her cold laser therapy in Sorrento while I tidied up the kitchen from last night's gathering. We both feel terrible this morning because Maggie didn't eat her breakfast. She always eats and must be feeling absolutely horrible. We managed to get a Dramamine into her with a bit of a fight, and hopefully this will make her feel better. We weren't expecting this rough emotional roller coaster ride! We feel so guilty for putting her through this, and yet we have good intentions. It reminds me of our friend Angie Wills' saying, "The road to hell was paved with good intentions." (Usually Angie said this about something nice that Ron tried to do but which backfired.) LOL

Robbie is waiting at the door for Maggie to come home. We're all sad for her. Cold Laser really seems to help though, so maybe she'll have a better afternoon.

Cousin Elliott Tawns painted this at a skateboard park ...

Cool, eh? He's quite an interesting artist in his own right. 

We picked Maggie up at 1:15 in Sorrento. The vet prescribed a different anti-nausea medication. I phoned Walgreens ... the price is $431. I think she's going to be having Dramamine for awhile. Sheesh. That's out of our reach. 

Mark went Christmas shopping at Kohl's today. One of the items he picked up (something I asked him to get) was a tin of (three different types) popcorn. I thought it would be somewhere between $5 and $10. Well, when he got home and looked at his receipt, it was $24.99 on sale; regular price $50. For a tin of popcorn??? So, on the way home from the vets, we stopped at Kohl's so he could go in, tell them off and return it. LOL. It's going to be early happy hour when we get home. Ha ha

On the back patio, Fritz's Christmas cactus is ready to bloom!  How do they know what time of year it is?

It's going to be a pale beauty.  My roses are enjoying the cooler, dryer weather. 

The peach roses smell heavenly! The fish is rose is brilliant ... but not aromatic. 

This is the real color.  It pops!

Miss Maggie is feeling horrible, but came outside to look for lizards. God bless. 

Mark decided to take his dog frustrations out on the camphor tree in our front yard. This is the tree that the birds eat the berries from and poop purple on the truck. LOL. He wants to replace that tree 

with three nice palms along the driveway. 

Tomorrow is Sue's garage sale benefiting Shih Tzu Rescue. If you're in the Pompano Beach area, please stop into the sale. The address will be in the newspaper. 

Ta ta. Hope your Friday's been wonderful

Thursday, December 4, 2014

21 days til Christmas!!!

Good morning. It's another gorgeous day in paradise. We're off to Sorrento to take Maggie for her cold laser therapy. She had another rough night. We, bad pet parents, went to bed early and forgot to give her her anti-nausea medication! Mark got up to take Mags out at three and had a very hard time waking her up. We're hoping the cold laser treatment will help her feel better today. 

Robbie has been "worried" about Maggie as evidenced by their nose to nose sleeping in the truck! Cuties!

So, amid all the confusion of our lives, Mark reminded me that tonight is Yaya's. I got everything ready, and he invited Lew to come over for venison burgers tonight! Perfect. On the way to the vet's I started thinking ... "today is only the fourth. I think Yaya's is on the 11th this month because Nancy is hosting Ya Ya's and she (President) doesn't have a Democratic Party meeting on the second Thursday of the month in December!" So, because we'd already invited Lew to come tonight for venison burgers, we asked Lynn to come for steak. After we dropped Maggi at the Sorrento vet, we went to have coffee with Randy and Dawn and invited them to come too. And, voilà we have a last minute dinner party! 

Mark, having fun in the kitchen! (I vacuumed, dusted, set the table, filled the decanters and watched him chop!) LOL

I asked Dawn if they had room for a large, lit wreath. She said yes, Randy said no. LOL

Randy is showing that 'he's the man', although the wreath is apparently going home with them. Ha ha ha!

Lynn and Lew were entertaining, as always. We had lots of fun tonight.

Dinner was great ... Plus mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.  And, fireballs. Haha. 

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3, 2014

22 days til Christmas!

Good morning! It's a gorgeous 68° and sunny! 

Mark went to Sorrento with Maggie for her first cold laser therapy treatment of this second phase ($520 for 18).  It's a relative bargain, if you say it fast. LOL. After he drops her off, he'll take the Buick in for a new headliner. I believe there is planned obsolescence in headliners. Ha ha. We were driving along when it sagged down on our heads. One place wanted $160 to replace it, and this place $125. We hope we don't regret the lower price.

Mark said Maggie was so happy to see the girl at the Sorrento office she was wagging her tail and jumping around like a puppy! I guess she enjoys the laser therapy! 

Today, Randy and Dawn are taking Bob and Jill to Orlando airport for their trip home to Winnipeg! The parties over. LOL. It's back to ice and snow for them. :-(

The Buicks headliner looks great. They did a very good job. Whew! (Hey, you never know!) The smell of glue was so strong though that Mark has to drive with the windows open for a few days! I got dizzy from the smell of glue just from checking out the job! Phew!

So, I'm puttering around this afternoon and Mark went for an afternoon hunt. 

There's not a cloud in the sky, soft breeze, and 77°. Paradise found. 

Twice this afternoon, I sat outside on the back patio and let the dogs lizzie-hunt. Don't worry, no one ever catches one! But they sure do like to try. Haha. Maggie seems to be feeling a little better this afternoon after her cold laser therapy. Hallelujah! 

Our camphor tree, sycamore tree, and prickly pear all give us wonderful fall colors. Well, it's almost winter, but you get the picture. Haha. 

I was browsing Facebook this afternoon while sitting on the patio, and found this picture of the Pope. A spiritual healer posted it with a caption, "Do These Eyes Look "Holy" and full of Love To Anyone ?"

SCARY!!!  "Have you ever had a friend take a devil of picture of you?"  I ask.  Haha. 

The other evening, Rick Moir wondered how many wineries are in Florida. I was only aware of the local one in Clermont, Lakeridge. Then, a friend posted this picture online of a winery in Homestead Florida. Schnelby Winery. 

Mark arrived home at 6:30 from hunting in the Ocala Forest. It was just too nice a day for anything to be moving. It's still 72°

Hope your Wednesday was lovely. 

TUESDAY DECEMBER 2, 2014

23 days til Christmas!!! 

We used to rake leaves...but now Mark uses the leaf blower to mound them and the lawnmower to mulch them! Great fertilizer! 

This morning we're off to the Longwood vet's for Maggie's checkup. She's had a tough week! We will ask for guidance. 

Well, we got guidance. Expensive guidance. LOL!!! Maggie's blood work came back very good. She was prescribed anti-nausea medication for the next four days ($50) and an anti-diarrhea for two days ($30) ...   Another round of laser for $520, totaling $826 for today!  Ho ho ho ... so it goes! 

Our plan this afternoon was to take Randy, Dawn, Bob and Jill for lunch by boat. About halfway home, it started pouring rain and continued all the way to our house! Although no bad weather was forecast this morning, there's a squall line of thunderstorms coming from Orlando. So, I had to phone Randy and tell him that the boat ride is canceled. He and Jill were sitting out on the back deck in the sunshine drinking coffee. It's weird because we only live half an hour apart! They have sun; we have a thunderstorm! Haha. 

This evening, we are going to Randy's to shoot pool and have a glass of wine! Bob and Jill leave for Winnipeg tomorrow!

Mark taught Jim-Bob how to shoot pool. LOL. We had a good visit and a good time, and left about 9:45. We just missed Dawn was on her way home after work!  Jim-Bob and Jill leave tomorrow to head back to Winnipeg!

Randy was wishing Dawn was there!

Jill with the pool shark-Mark. 

Monday, December 1, 2014

24 days til CHRISTMAS!!! Good morning from sunny Central Florida. Rick was up early and had coffee with Mark. Then, the two of them decided on a breakfast of leftovers. Rick went to the coach to get eggs. Soon I appeared, then Ruth, and we all sat down to a fine breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns and orange juice. 

Rick and Ruth are interested in a property in our neighborhood. So, with Mark's "key", ha ha, we walked through the property. We all said it has wonderful potential.  So, with my ex-Realtor skills, I found some information online and a phone number for Ruth to call. She spoke with a Realtor who promptly came up the same information I had found.  Through this Realtor, Ruth offered a price to the bank ... so, we'll see if anything comes of it. They want a project and this would be a great project! LOL

Mark had hidden a fake spider in Rick's RV electrical panel. Ruth was coiling up the cable today and discovered the fake spider. She didn't even jump! That ruined all of Mark's fun but she sent Rick out to the panel to get something. Rick tried to get Mark back by putting a fake spider of his truck. Mark was asked to move the truck back to give Rick more room to pull out of the driveway. Of course Rick was waiting for Mark's scream, but he didn't see it. So we said our farewells and Rick and Ruth left about noon. But there is something called, "Spider karma." LOL

Mark and I went to the Humane Society store and dropped off a couple of donations; then shopped in the store. Ha ha ha, we donated 20 items but bought four. Well at least we're reducing! LOL

Next stop was to price a new headliner for the Buick. $125 sounded reasonable to us so we booked a Wednesday morning appointment. 

Next was a secret Santa stop, and then on our way home, we stopped at Dollar General for paper plates. As we were leaving the store, an older woman pulled in with a jacked-up jeep, and got out with a bad case of "the willies"!!! She called to Mark that a big spider was on her headliner! (Get it, spider, headliner, equals karma.) Mark was a big hero; got into her jeep and killed the big brown spider!!! LOL. You'd think I make this crap up. But no, it's factual. Haha. 

Now, back home, Mark is puttering around with chores and I've begun the laundry! 

Randy, Dawn, Jill and Jim-Bob went to Capt. Hiram's in Sebastian for lunch today. Apparently, Randy won the GreyCup  football pool yesterday! Today, he delivered our Christmas presents to Matt and family and saw our granddaughters. 

Sue is getting ready for a Shih Tzu Rescue benefit garage sale next weekend. She told me there is quite a muddle (Mom loved that word!) on her kitchen counter and bags of items by the front door for sorting!

It looks like some good stuff!!!

She has been selling items on her eBay store benefiting the dog rescue! Nice job Sue!

Tomorrow, Maggie has a vet appointment for blood work and a lymph node check up. Later, we'll take everyone for a boat ride and have lunch out. 

Tonight, it's relaxation mode!