Sunday

I love Sundays!  Great sermon today!  Plus two little babies (cousins) were baptized.  They were both so good! 

We ate at home today and Dave worked outside most of the day.  It was a hot and humid one here.  This evening we went to Gilley's for a welcome home party.  We sat outside - there were lots of gnats and heat!  We came home early because I was so hot and I wanted to watch the baseball game.  This game is making my stomach hurt.

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Saturday

We had a fun day today.  After breakfast, we went to Sarasota to the Celery Fields in search of roseate spoonbills.  We didn't find any spoonies, but we saw a pie billed grebe, a red shouldered hawk, a glossy ibis, and several herons, etc.  When we'd had our fill of birds, we stopped at Bealls, and then had lunch at Woody's in Ellenton.  It was a gorgeous day to be out in nature.

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Thursday

I got so excited that the Cubs won, I forgot to blog.  Dave had a dental appointment to get prep done for a crown.  When he got back, we took a bike ride.  Then we got settled in to watch the ballgame.  Loved watching the Cubs when Arrieta was pitching well.  It's a thing of beauty.

Today, Dave had an appointment at his urologist's office.  I cleaned up the master bath and vacuumed.  We went to Largo Nature Park for the first time this season.  We didn't see the alligator, but there were cormorants, a little blue heron, several moorhens including some juveniles, a pair of yellow crowned night herons, and a pair of limpkins. 

Came home for lunch and then we both took naps this afternoon and a bike ride before supper.  Love Thursdays - Thursdays are off days at the Ranch. 

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Good day!

We started our day off at the dentist's office for cleanings.  The Dr examined my teeth and I had no cavities!!  That's always wonderful!  Since we had good checkups, Dave decided we needed to go to the water to eat.  So we went to Seabreeze where Sudi & Howard joined us.  After lunch we went to the condo where they're living on the beach - what a view!! 

On the way home, we stopped at Wild Fields to pick up some meat and some chicken salad...sorry, Sudi, I didn't see any liver.  Got home in time for Dave to take a nap.  I also went to bingo tonight and it was a very good night for me! 

Now, if the Cubs could just rally for a win, the day would be about perfect.

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Monday

Woohoo - we voted today!  Easy process - we stood in line for about 1 minute, got our ballots, voted, and were back in the car within 10 minutes.  The thing that took the longest was walking from the parking lot.  After lunch we went to Walmart to pick up some things.  Then Dave took down the big chandelier from over our table and put up our new light fixture.  Much better! 

Bob, Ann, Gary & Barb got here this afternoon.  It's nice having them next door.  I went to play cards.  We got beat tonight - just couldn't come up with wild cards!

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Sunday

Another beautiful day here.  We went to 9:30 church - glad to be back listening to Pastor Jack's sermons and the wonderful praise music.  It was good!  After church we went to Lowe's for some things Dave needed.  Then we came home, changed clothes and were off doing what we do best.  Dave fixed Bob & Ann's toilet and I took a nap.  When he got home around 2:00 we ate lunch.  The rest of the day was spent just relaxing -Dave took his nap after lunch and when he woke up, we went for a bike ride.  I'm enjoying riding my bike this year!!

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Go Cubs Go!

Oh my gosh!!  What a game!! 

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Friday

Hip, hip, hooray!  I got my hair cut today and it's finally even on both sides!  I also got the newsletter up to the office for printing so I was busy this morning.  We went to the Legion for lunch...they've got a whole bunch of new rules.  It was pretty busy today...there were about 17 of us from the Ranch there.  Fun times on a beautiful day!

Tonight I played cards.  We had 10 ladies and there were 9-10 poker players too.  Betty and I won, but just barely. 

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Thursday

I stayed up pretty late last night watching the Cubs.  It was a good night - the Cubs got their bats going, finally!  Now if they can just do it again tonight.  I sure hope they can win.  Before watching the game, I watched the final debate.  I just can't imagine how anyone could vote for that bully!  Yet, probably the nicest lady down here told me last night that she voted for Trump.  Another lady said she did too, because she didn't like the fact that Hillary didn't divorce Bill for his indiscretions.  Hmmm...

I went for two bike rides today - one around 4:00 (about the hottest part of the day).  My muscles are a little lax - I can sure tell that I didn't ride much this summer. 

We got the curtains up today and I finally got all the cupboards in the kitchen washed.  Tomorrow we're going to the Legion.  They have some new rules, so hope we can get served. 

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Tuesday

We finally got back home today.  On Sunday we got through Iowa and Missouri and ended up staying in Dyersburg, TN.  Monday was a longer day - we drove thru Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and stayed in Perry, FL.  This morning, we only had about 4 hours of driving.  Our home is good - it weathered the summer well.  All of our flowers made it except for one.  We've got most everything put away.  We even took a bike ride!!

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Saturday

The car is loaded.  All we have to do in the morning is pack our computers and Kindles and we're off for day one of our trip to Florida.  Now we're watching the Cubs...Cubs win!  Woohee, that was a playoff game!

Beautiful wedding today!  Icky drizzly day, though. 

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Aidan's birthday party

Today was another day of cleaning and finishing up last minute things before Sunday.  Tonight, however, was for Aidan.  He loved us singing to him and he loved his pizza and his birthday cupcake!  He and I played with his farm stickers and he even let me read to him a little.  When we got ready to leave, he even gave me a real kiss and an Eskimo kiss! 

I miss him already!!

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Happy birthday to Aidan!

Our little Aidan is 2 years old today.   He's a cutie, with such a good personality.  We're going for pizza at their house tomorrow night.  They have foster kids this weekend so Aidan can't open his gifts so again we won't get to see him open his birthday presents.

We're making good progress on packing for our trip.  I think I've got everything done except for calling Mediacom, cleaning the refrigerator and cleaning the house.  Yay!

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Cubs win!!!

You snooze you lose.  That's not always true.  I gave up  last night in the 8th inning of the Cubs game.  I thought with it 2-5 with us behind, there was no way the Cubs could win.  But they proved the old adage wrong.  I snoozed, but they didn't lose!!  Earlier in the evening, we went to Kyle's.  He's letting us store the camper for the winter in his big barn.  So we took pizza out and ate with them.  That was fun.  Blaise is feeling better and he really likes pizza.  Both of us got to play with his farm animals and I even got to read two books to him.

Today I got most of my clothes ready to go.  I also made ham balls for lunch and this afternoon, I went thru all of our CDs so we could take some with us.  We love southern gospel, so we have a bunch of those to listen to while we drive.  Then tonight, we went to the Cattle Congress to hear a wonderful speaker:

Great speaker...the  only problem is we stood the whole time - 3 hours total!  He was worth the pain, though.  Unfortunately we had several protesters who were escorted out and then got back in somehow.  He handled it very well.

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Back home...

We're back home for a little while!  It is good to be back and on the internet.  We were in O-town and the park has internet, but the park was full so there were too many people trying to get the weak signal.  We chose instead to just use our phone data and just check email, etc.  We got about 10 tv stations so we watched the debate last night.

Thanksgiving at Bob's was fun.  We Skyped with Kaylee and Clayton and were entertained by Blaise. He has a bad cold with a fever, so he was a little more subdued.  He's quite the kid.  At one time,  he ran over to Papa Bob and his foot was under Bob's rocker...you guessed it.  Bob leaned forward and Blaise screamed.  I told Bob I thought his foot was under the chair, so Bob leaned back.  Blaise went to his mommy and she hugged him and said, "You're all right."  Blaise replied, "No I'm not!"  Pretty quick reply for a 2 1/2 year old.

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Friday

We both had very productive days today.  I worked all day on paperwork and I have at least 1 more full day to go.  Dave went to Bryan's to mow, and Bryan took the afternoon off.  They didn't get the mowing done, but they did get 7 trailer loads of brush hauled to the dump.

Now we're watching the Giants-Cubs playoff game.  Let's go, Cubs!!  We leave tomorrow for Ottumwa, so I may not have wifi for a couple of days again....grrrr.

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Thursday

When I got up this morning, I consciously put on something nice because I told myself I was going to talk Dave into going out for one meal.  Then  I remembered it was Thursday and that means $3 jumbo margaritas at Carlos O'Kelley's!  That's where we went this evening!

Other than that I didn't do much.  Dave did his usual work around the condo!  We've been keeping a close eye on Hurricane Matthew and praying that our family and friends will be okay.  Scary situation.
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Wednesday

I had a doctor's appointment this morning.  My dexascan showed that my osteopena is getting worse, so Dr P wanted to see me to discuss treatment options.  We decided we'd wait until I get back in the spring to start a new "stronger" medicine...that way, if I have any contraindications, I'll be near the doctor so she can change the meds.

I didn't sleep well again last night.  That's two nights in a row.  Sure hope I sleep well tonight.

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Tuesday

Yesterday was Bryan's birthday.  We took Bryan, Erin, and Aidan out for dinner tonight.  Then back to their place for cake.  Meanwhile, Jami and family are in a hurricane watch.  Hurricane Matthew is headed toward SE Florida.  Great!  Hope they keep watch and move out before it hits.

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Monday

I worked on the computer today, trying to get pix so I could post them on Facebook.  I also got some addresses changed in anticipation of our trip south.  We're getting anxious now.  We've already got some things ready to pack in the car!!

Here's a group  pix from Saturday night's Class of 66 high school reunion.  What a fun time!!

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Sunday

What a fun weekend!  We went to Fairfield on Thursday and after we got the camper set up we took off for Cantril.  We got 4 big bags of popcorn and 2 small bags.  Hope that's enough for the winter!  We eat a lot of popcorn!!  Of course, we also got some chocolate and some noodles!  Then we went back to Fairfield in time to have dinner with Sudi, Howard, Melanie and Tom.  Friday found us having lunch at the Pizza Ranch with about 20 high school friends (maybe more).  Friday night was wonderful.  The FHS class of '66 got together at the Elks for a social.  It was packed!  I think there were about 60 classmates and significant others.

Saturday was a volleyball tournament where Allison played.  She and McKenna (our cousin 3 times removed) are now on the same team so in the crowd were lots of relatives!  That was fun - plus Fairfield HS won the tournament!  I was even able to get in on part of the school tour.  Wow, has the high school ever changed!  After lunch at Taco John's (my choice) we had our showers and waited for Bob & Ann to get there to change clothes.  We played some dominoes with Ann and then got ready for the reunion.  50 years out of high school - so hard to believe.  It was sure fun seeing everyone.  I think I got to actually visit with everyone in attendance at some time during the weekend.  The entertainment was a hoot!!  Pictures are still in the camera!

We left the camper in Fairfield because we go down again next weekend for Thanksgiving at Bob's.  Since we're all gone for the REAL Thanksgiving, they're having it this next Sunday.  We'll pick up the camper and move it to O-town next weekend!

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