Our Christmas Present....to Each Other

We had decided that we were not going to exchange gifts this year. We thought taking care of the kids and grands plus the cost of the trip to Tennessee for Christmas would be enough. She changed our minds.

Shortly before time for us to travel, Ms. Becky saw some decorative curbing around one of our neighbor's flower gardens. It really caught her attention. She mentioned that it would certainly look nicer than the stones and blocks, etc. that we had around all of our flower beds.

I found out that the people that own Tree Frogs and take such good care of our lawns also own Creative Curbs and Concrete Designs. I saw one of the owners when they were here with the mowers and inquired about the cost of the curbing. She measured off the area we talked about and gave us an excellent price. I passed this information along to Ms. Becky and left it up to her. Her first response was that we didn't need to spend the money for that right now. Remember, she is a female. Two days later she changed her mind.

Creative Curbs promised that could get it done before we left for our Christmas trip, and they did. Of course, by then, the project had grown to include curbing around two more trees. Here are some pictures of the results.
Around the Northeast Corner of the Driveway

This Section Starts at the Front Steps and Goes to the Northwest Corner of the House

The Ficus is in the back yard. The Palm is in the front yard next to the driveway.

He Travels Well

Wake me in a couple of hours and I will drive.

Just give him his pillow and blankie and he will go anywhere! The only problem is, sometimes he wants to drive. After our trip to Lake Okeechobee I had to disappoint him by informing him that he was not quite ready to get his license.

Okeechobee was nice. We did a little exploring of the neighborhood with our friends, learned a lot about the lake and the "Rim Canal" that circles it, and found some good places to eat. The Brahma Bull was especially nice. If you are ever in the neighborhood, you can find it on Highway 441 just a couple of miles south of the intersection with Highway 78. They have nightly specials including Snow Crab Legs and Prime Rib. We were just there for lunch but it was good home-style cooking. It is time to go back on the diet now. The holidays killed me. Time to get back into the routine.

After the Party

Well, the trip back to see all the folks was mostly enjoyable. We left for the south on Sunday morning. I thought if we got through Atlanta before noon on Sunday traffic would not be too bad. I wasn't smart enough to check the football schedule. Atlanta had a 1:00 P.M. kickoff. Traffic was too bad!!!

Interstate 75 south of Atlanta was bumper-to-bumper, stop and go. We elected to take I-16 East from Macon to Savannah. Another mistake on my part. Interstate 16 was not crowded at all and we had a scenic and leisurely trip until we got to I-95. With the combination of traffic and road construction, there were many miles travelled at less than 10 miles per hour. By the time we got to St. Augustine, it was 10:00 P.M. A trip that should have taken less than 11 hours had taken nearly 14 hours.

We didn't miss the furnace that night. When Camping World opened, I visited the service desk and told them I realized that our appointment was not until 10:00 A.M. but that we would be in the parking lot as soon as they got ready for us. They finally took us in about 12:45 P.M. after Miss Becky had some choice words with them. Then they decided that the furnace needed a new switch that they did not have in stock. That means another 200 mile trip when they get it in to have it installed. We finally made it home around 5:00 P.M. We were cutting it pretty short since we planned to leave by 11:00 A.M. the next morning for a trip to Lake Okeechobee with some friends.

WINTER ROAD TRIP

"GRANNY THE GREAT"

Well, we hit the road again on December 23, headed for cold country. We made it into north Georgia (I was determined to get through Atlanta before anybody got out of bed) before stopping for the night. We went to bed about 2:30 A.M.; correction, I went to bed, Becky and the boys went back to bed. They had gone to bed after supper, about 9:00 P.M.

We got up around 8:00 A.M. and made it on into Knoxville before lunch time. We had a great Christmas eve with Becky's family. My sister and her granddaughter joined us, too.

Little Sis and Vonna

When I got up Christmas morning, I knew I was not in Florida anymore. It was 46 degrees in the motor home. I decided to turn up the heat to knock the chill out, but guess what! The furnace decided not to work. I crawled back under the blankets and took Rocket with me. His little teeth were chattering he was so cold. I think he is now appreciating the fact that he is a Florida dog.

I checked gas bottles, breakers, fuses, switches, and everything else I could think of. Then I got the electric heater out of the storage bay. We have an appointment at Camping World in St. Augustine at 10:00 A.M. Monday morning. When I talked to their service people on the telephone they said I had already done everything they could think of except change the thermostat. I guess that is where they will start.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all four of us to each and every one of you!!!! The boys are freshly groomed and we are off to the cold country for Christmas. Makes sense, doesn't it. Cut all their hair off and take them up north in the cold.

There Was Plenty to be Thankful for on Thanksgiving

ME, NANNY, AND THE KIDS

It was Thanksgiving, and time for another road trip. We loaded the boys in the motor home on Thanksgiving morning and headed for our Florida daughter's house. Our oldest son and his family and our oldest daughter and her youngsters made the trip down, too. Eight of our ten grandchildren were there.

We arrived just in time to see the last part of the neighborhood "Thanksgiving Day Parade." We had a great day of family mingling, eating, and watching football.

On Friday morning, we again fired up the motor home and travelled down the highway a bit to the KOA at Starke, FL. (Yes, that is right down the road from the penitentiary where Florida carries out their executions.) We met Becky's oldest brother and sister-in-law there and enjoyed the rest of the weekend catching up. They live in Ft. Walton Beach and we don't get to see them often. They have recently purchased an Airstream, the Cadillac of tow-behinds, and have been spending a lot of time making short trips with it in preparation for next summer. They have a thirty-day road trip planned and I would really like to be accompanying them.

Picking Up Their Rig

Ron was a Master Chief when he retired from the Air Force. He has worked for a defense contractor since then, but is getting ready to retire again. Jennifer says she is retired but Ron keeps telling her she has to have a regular income to be considered retired. He says she is just unemployed.

We had a great time visiting with them. There was no left-over turkey and dressing, either. We had steak and asparagus with Bernaise sauce one night and Jennifer fixed a "Beer-Butt" chicken on the grill on Saturday. We sampled a little wine, a little of "The Gentleman" from the hollow in Lynchburg, TN, and some strange and exotic stuff in a white bottle that smelled strangely like rum and coconuts.

We pulled out around 10:00 AM Sunday morning with intentions of stopping over in Daytona at Becky's favorite flea market. The closer we got to home, the worse the weather looked. I am extremely glad she decided to forgo the shopping so that we could get home before the worst of the storm hit.

By the time we got the motor home backed in the driveway and hooked up and settled down, we were under a tornado watch!!! We had a hale of a rainstorm, but the only tornado touched down about 45 miles south of us. I finally managed to get the motor home washed and Becky just bought a great big red bow to go on the front for our trip to Tennessee for Christmas. I have already called and told them to turn up the heat.

I Screwed Up Big Time

I have been remiss. I have been fussed at. I admit it. I have all but abandoned my blog. My apologies to those of you who expected to see something much sooner.

I got all primed for a beautiful night launch of Endeavour back on November 14. Our Florida daughter and her family made plans to join us for the launch. Becky and I took the motor home and snagged a wonderful parking place right on the banks of the Indian River, directly across from the Assembly Building where NASA mates the shuttle to the boosters and fuel tank. The shuttle itself was visible through the haze directly over the sail boat in the photo.

We had a great time visiting with neighbors and making new friends with others who had come to witness the launch. Many of them were from out-of-state and had never had the opportunity to experience this type of excitement. There was one especially nice couple from Lakeland who were accompanied by their son and daughter-in-law (or was it daughter and son-in-law? That is what I get for waiting so long to write this). At any rate, they live in the metropolitan D.C. area.

It was a beautiful night for a launch. Even the full moon came to watch!

I was all set to capture some award-winning photos. But this is where I screwed up. I forgot to take my nice expensive camera from the automatic settings. I got a few decent shots, but was really disappointed in the overall results. Hopefully I will get another chance before they shut the program down. The next launch is scheduled for February 12, 2009 but I don't think the time has been set yet. Here are a couple of the better ones I wound up with that night.

No, it isn't upside down. The shuttle has climbed above the moon.

Here the moon is reflecting in the Indian River. The bright spot in the middle is the result of my not setting the camera correctly.

As you can tell, the sequence starts from the bottom!