Rain, rain go away!

I'm really tired of this rain and cold.  Please make it go away!  Tomorrow we may go to the horse races in Tampa and I don't want any horses to fall down!!

Thank goodness we're able to get out to play cards.  That's been the ONLY thing we can do!  It's too cold and wet to do anything else.  I'm sure this winter is going to be one for the record books.  At least I could wear shorts today - it wasn't as cold as it has been.

Speaking of cards, my partner was Nancy D.  She and I won by 4100 points!!  Yay!  I had pretty good cards all night until the last hand and she had good cards that hand.  Together we made a pretty good team!

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Lazy day

Dave said we really, really had a lazy day today.  He took the car to get some new window wipers and I got my hair cut.  That's it - that's all we did today!!  I wanted to take a bike ride, but went outside and determined that it was too cold and damp, so I took a nap instead!

Tomorrow it's supposed to be 72!!  Hope the sun shines, too!

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Cold!

We went up to the clubhouse for coffee this morning, but this was a first - we took the car!  It was just a bit too cold to ride our bikes today.  We only had a high in the low 50's and it rained a lot of the day.  It's 47 right now and tomorrow is supposed to be a repeat of today.  I much prefer the warmer days!

I played cards tonight but I didn't win.  We started out way ahead, but ended up about 3,000 down.  Not a good night for us!

I'm watching my Cyclones play KU tonight.  Kansas is really, really tough at home...actually, they're just tough.  Their freshman center is pretty much awesome.

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Fun day!

Bowling this morning was actually fun!  I bowled a 156, a 141, and a 135!  Not bad for me!  My arm felt pretty good except for one time.  After bowling we went to Mugs 'n' Jugs for lunch!  They had BOGO fajitas today - Their fajitas are very good.  We were home long enough for me to vacuum.  Tomorrow I'll have to run the Swiffer over the floors and dust.

It was a gorgeous day  today - a high of 78.  This afternoon late we went to St Pete to see Becky, Jim, Nancy, Rod, Sudi & Howard.  They have a beautiful view from their condo!  We went to their clubhouse for Taco Tuesday and margaritas!  Great choice with good friends!

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Sarasota

We went to Sarasota today.  We were supposed to go to Home Depot to purchase new blinds for Dad & Roberta's home...she wanted the wooden-looking blinds rather than plastic mini's.  When we got there, she had decided she didn't need them, so she and I went to Bealls while Dave fixed one of the blinds in the living room - for some reason 5 of the slats had gotten bent so looked bad.  Now you can't even tell it was ever damaged.

We got in a mess on I75 - there was a wreck in front of us - almost 7 miles and we had bumper-to-bumper traffic that was stopped.  It took us almost 45 min. longer than normal to get there.  Coming back to Clearwater, the southbound lanes were bound up for about 9 miles because some truck dropped a huge piece of equipment and damaged a bridge overpass.  Even the northbound was stopped for about 3 miles.  They're trying to reroute traffic to see how badly damaged the bridge is before they open I75 back up.  What a mess!

I played cards tonight.   There were 14 of us - my team won!!  Yay!

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Sleepy Sunday

I didn't want to get up this morning, so I dawdled a bit.  We made it to church which was good.  Sermon was about unity in the church and in our beliefs.  I'd like to hear Pastor David preach on this scripture.  After church we went to Cheddars for lunch.  It was delicious as always!  Thank you, Ron & Marcia, for the gift certificates!  When I go there, I have chicken tenders - there are 6 big ones on the plate, plus two side dishes.  Today I had red beans & rice and apples/yogurt.  Very, very good!

After lunch we went to the new Walmart behind Cheddars.  Big store!  We were able to find everything we wanted except Orville Redenbacher's white popcorn in a plastic jar...so I picked up a bag of Jolly Time white.  This popcorn is for 7s from Hell.  We all take turns buying the popcorn.  I hope the JT is good!

When we got home and unpacked our groceries, etc., I took a nap - a two-hour one.  Dave woke me up and again I didn't want to get up.  I guess I'm really tired.  I don't like gray days!

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Beautiful Saturday!

It was absolutely beautiful today.  We had a ladderball tournament today - with 47 participants!!  We started playing at 10:30 and the tournament got over about 4:30 or so!  Of the top four players today, 3 of them were women - so women rule again!  I wasn't in the top 3...I won my first game because I got a bye...but I played Nancy B in the next round and she couldn't miss!  She beat me 21-6!  I felt lucky to get 6 points!!
It was a fun day.  Everyone sat around and watched the entire tournament and then afterwards a bunch of us got together up at the clubhouse for hors doeuvres and drinks!  I'm sleepy now, though!

This afternoon, we went to a memorial service for a guy who had lived here.  We didn't know him, but we know his partner, Sandy.  So we went for her sake.  It was nice - short but uplifting.  RIP Dennis.

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We're home!

It's going to feel so good sleeping in our own bed tonight.  We got back here about 1:00 this afternoon.  We had a beautiful drive across the state of Florida.  We saw them starting fires in the sugarcane fields.  Plus we watched them harvesting sugarcane.  They were picking oranges and we saw at least 100 sand hill cranes!!  It must be breeding season for the cranes - we've never seen so many large groups of them before.  Usually we only see 1-2 but today we saw groups of 25 and more!!

We had a good week with Jami and her family, but we're really glad to be back home!  I even played cards tonight and WON!!  Yay!  Tomorrow we're having a ladder ball tournament.  Should be fun!

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Thursday

We had a very quiet last day here in Ft Lauderdale...We mostly read and played on the computer.  Oh, I guess we did laundry and drove one last time by the pretty beaches.  The breakers were big today - would have been a good day to have a boogie board or whatever those are called.

Sudi, these pix are how they ended up fixing A1A on the pretty beach.

That's all I have to say tonight.

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Beautiful but chilly day!

It was absolutely beautiful outside today - but it was a little chilly!  About 5:00 it was 64 but at lunchtime it was only 58.  We found a secluded spot on Hillsborough Beach, out of the wind, to have our lunch.  It was just us and one lonely seagull.  I've got some great pix, but I can't find the cord I need to upload them...so they'll come later.

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I hate this place!

This week we're staying at the Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort and we hate it!  It's claustrophobic in these rooms!  Just to get into the room, you have to walk sideways thru the hallway.  The rooms are pretty and clean, but the walls must be paper!  The person next door to us has their TV so loud, we finally turned ours off!  Last night we called to complain and they turned it clear off...I'm thinking about 9:30 we're calling again!  It's totally ridiculous!  Some people are just so inconsiderate.  I'm sitting here with my earplugs in, and I can still hear every word of THEIR TV.  I've got other things I dislike, too...like the parking (or lack thereof), the bed, the internet, etc., etc.  Three more nights - Lord, help us!

We had a good day today.  The kids were good and Dave got his daddy-do list all done.  So tomorrow, he's taking Jami to work (because her car is in the shop) and then we'll go back to Boca in the afternoon to pick her up.  Other than that - we have nothing else we have to do.  Yay!

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MLK Day

What a beautiful day in the Ft Lauderdale neighborhood!  I love 70-degree weather!  We spent the time today looking at the beautiful water and with the family!

We came over to Jami's and put the ribs in the crockpot, then we took off to see sights and to find a place to eat lunch on the water.  We found a new restaurant that we loved, right on the intercoastal.  It's called Bokempers and it's a sports bar.  We had wonderful salads, but we decided it wasn't a place to take the kids...it cost us $41 for 2 salads and 2 drinks (iced tea & lemonade) and tip.  Typical Ft Lauderdale prices.  The salads were wonderful - blackened chicken, mangos, strawberries, grapes, pineapple, candied pecans, lettuce, etc. and the dressing was a strawberry vinegarette...yummy!

The ribs and the potatoes tonight were a wonderful hit.  The kids ate everything on their plates!

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Soccer & Oz

What a fun day!  We started our day by going to watch Kelly play soccer.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but not overly warm.  I wore shorts, and I was comfortable, but I also had on my lined pullover.  The sun felt good on my legs.  Kelly's team is awful...it's not much fun to watch them.

After the soccer game, we came home, ate lunch, changed clothes and took off for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to watch The Wizard of Oz.  It was a fantastic production!  The kids also enjoyed it and were quiet all the way through it.

Then we went to Sweet Tomatoes for supper and now we're just hanging out at Jami's.

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Safe & Sound

We made it here safe & sound!  The drive was uneventful, but beautiful!  We went cross country and got to enjoy the sugar cane and the citrus groves!  Plus we saw 4 sand hill cranes in a field all by themselves.  I drove off the road, parked, and got a picture of them.  This internet connection is horrible, so I'm hoping this posts...I won't try a picture!

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PS - It's only 58 here, but colder down here by the beach!

Cold Again

Here comes more cold weather...darn.  I came down here to escape the cold weather.  At least when it's cold down here, you don't have to wear a coat, scarf, boots and mittens!  I'm still in shorts, but now I'm wearing my lined ISU pullover with them!!  We're heading to Ft Lauderdale where it's supposed to be 5-10 degrees warmer than up here...hopefully when we get back it'll be warm again!

Today Dave helped Bob & Gary at Gary's place and I just hung out.  I took my bike ride while it was nice out and I worked on paperwork.  I swept the floor and I filled our pill cases.  I also stripped the bed and washed the sheets.  I'm tired tonight!!

Sue & Penny invited us over for supper.  That was fun!  Now we're home and watching "Batman Begins" - a weird one!!  I'm glad Batman evolved!

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Winner AND Loser!!

What a day!  We had coffee this morning, followed by our annual HMO meeting and election of officers.  Needless to say, there was a full house for the election!  We elected 2 newcomers to the board along with 1 incumbent.  Then at the officers' meeting, they elected a new President, VP, and Secy.  The Treasurer stayed the same.  Good news!!

After the meeting, we played shuffleboard...finally!  We got in 3 games and a quick lunch.  I played very well today and so did Dave.  In first match, I ended up getting beat by 1 point...I think I choked!  Dave also choked and got beat in the last frame.  Then in my second match, I played Dave!  Unfortunately I really beat him!   I'm sorry, honey!  Then I played Donna, who is really, really good at everything.  I won by 20 or so points!!  I felt really good about my shuffling today!!

Cards, however - now that was a different story.  We had 14 players tonight and my partners and I got clobbered.  We just couldn't close!

It was a beautiful and fun day!!  Now it's raining!

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Soggy day

We woke up to rain this morning and it was still raining when we left for bowling.  Bowling was fun today...we had 24 bowlers!!  Wow!  I didn't bowl too badly - I kept hitting the pocket, though, and just couldn't buy a strike.  Dave bowled ok today, too.  It's lots of fun when there are lots of us bowling.  After bowling, we went to Acropol for lunch/breakfast.  I like it there.  Dave had Chicken Parmesan and I had bacon and eggs.

This afternoon, we both read and took a bike ride.  This evening it's getting chilly - it's down to 57 already.  I rode my bike to bingo, though, and didn't get too cold.  Again I didn't win, but Ann bingo'd 3 times!  We had a full house, so some of the games are $70 or so.  It'd be nice to win!

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Fun day!

Dave and I went exploring today.  In a couple of years, if all goes well, we might move to Florida full-time.  That's our hope anyway.  So we went out looking at different areas where we might want to live.  We ended up at The Pub for lunch...had a great black & blue chicken salad.  Plus we saw a dolphin!

Right now I'm watching the ISU-KU game.  We are probably going to be 14-2 after this game.  KU just has way too much height for us!  Man, are they tall.  They're also in foul trouble though, so I'm waiting for Hilton Magic to kick in.  We're only down 6 with about 10 minutes left.  Let's go Cyclones!

Tomorrow's a B&B day and this weekend we go to Ft Lauderdale.  So I've got to think about that.

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Fun day!

Dave and I went exploring today.  In a couple of years, if all goes well, we might move to Florida full-time.  That's our hope anyway.  So we went out looking at different areas where we might want to love.

Sunday

We had another beautiful day here.  It wasn't real warm, but it was above 70.  This evening it got a little cool riding our bicycles and just now the heater kicked on.  It says it's 57 outside.

After church this morning, we left for Sarasota.  Since we're going to Ft Lauderdale on Friday, we needed to see Dad & Roberta sometime this week and today turned out to be the best day.  Dave cleaned their gutters while I worked on washing dishes.  We got home in time to ride our bikes and now we've been watching "Red" with Bruce Willis.  Pretty good movie - lots of violence, though.  Not mine kind of movie, but it wasn't too bad!

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Nice day!

Dave and I had some shopping to do today, so we went out about 10:00.  We went to Bealls, Home Depot, Hammerhead Hardware, and somewhere else, but I can't remember where.  Ha!!  We came home and had a burger and a salad and I took 3 bike rides today!  Dave took 2 of them with me, but he took several rides up to the dumpster.  He cut limbs off the trees around our mobile today so had to dispose of them!

I didn't sleep last night - I was still up at 4:30.  I feel pretty good for having been up all of that time.  I took about a half hour nap this afternoon, but I'm trying hard to not nap!  This afternoon I went over to Bobbi & Alan's just for a visit.  That was fun!

I also watched my Cyclone men today.  Unfortunately we got beat by Oklahoma.  I know that we were bound to lose some day, but I didn't want it to be today.  :(  So I was bummed.  We had way too many turnovers and one of our best players went down with an ankle injury in the last minutes of the game.  I sure hope he's ready for the game against Kansas in a couple of days!

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Winner!

Today was about perfect!  We went to the Legion, along with about 150 other people!  The place was PACKED!  Evidently all of the snowbirds are down here because traffic has increased and the restaurants are full at normal meal times!  The sun was shining beautifully and the water was beautiful!  It felt really good sitting outside, especially because it had been a few days since we've seen much sun!  It ended up being above 80 today, so everyone was out and about!

Tonight 12 of us played 7s.  Ann & I were partners and we won!!  It feels good to be a winner because I've been a loser for a week...maybe more.

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Oops!

I guess I forgot to blog last night - sorry!  I came home from cards and it was close to 9:30 - that's really late for cards.  I guess I just got busy playing my games and forgot about writing anything.

Today's been a gray, rainy day.  Tomorrow's only got a 10% chance of rain, so hopefully we'll have some sun so we can go to the Legion.  I'm starting to lose my tan, so I need some sun!  I'm wondering if St Pete is still saying they average 361 days of sunshine a year, because we haven't had any for days it seems to me!  We need the rain, though, so it's okay.

We finally got out for a bike ride this afternoon - in between raindrops!  We even rode 2 laps instead of one.  It was warmer and felt good to be outside after having several winter days!

I mentioned cards - yuck again!  Losers!  Maybe I'll win tomorrow night!

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Another cold one!

I think our high today got up to 47 - that's a long stretch from "normal" which is around 73!  It's to be 61 tomorrow and then 80 by the weekend!  Yay!  I even wore jeans to bingo and capris to bowl...so you know it's cold!!  Dave finally started the furnace this morning - sure glad it works!!  Our bedroom is cold, but that's good for sleeping!

I didn't do so well at either bowling or bingo today.  I was close to bowling very well and I was close in bingo, but close doesn't count in either of those games.  I wonder if we'll shuffle tomorrow?

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Cold here!

I'm not going to complain...I'm just stating a fact!  It's 48 here right now.  The day started out really nice, but it dropped like a ton of bricks shortly after noon.  We might even have frost here - what's up with that?  The good part of this is that in a day or two, it'll be back up in the 70s!  I think it got clear up to -5 in O-town...now THAT'S COLD!

I played cards tonight, but my team all had horrible cards all evening!!  We lost by over 6,000 points.  Right now I'm watching the Rose Bowl.  I've got mixed emotions.  I've always liked FSU, but I thought they did some dirty things in the first half.  I can't stand Auburn because I don't like the SEC...so I guess I'll go to bed and check the score tomorrow!

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Fun Sunday!

Church was good today - I actually enjoyed the sermon this morning!  After church we came home and ate the rest of our burritos and then we took off for the power plant in Tampa.  When the water starts to get cold, the manatees flock to this body of water where it's about 81 degrees instead of 65 in the Gulf!  Today there were hundreds of manatees so it was great viewing!  Unfortunately it's not easy to get a good picture, but that didn't keep me from trying!

 As you can see, it was a beautiful day here - about 83 degrees and no humidity - very little wind.

 Each of those "bumps" are manatees!

 The dorsal fin you see is a small shark - about 3.5 feet.  They don't bother the manatees.

 There were hundreds of them!!

These fish are mullets and there were thousands of them!!

It was a fun day!  Beautiful weather and great sights.

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Boring day!

I'm sorry - I'm here in a beautiful place with really nice people  and I'm bored today!  I believe this may be the only time I've been bored since we've been coming here.  I'm pretty sure it was because it was gray out most of the day.  Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow!  I didn't have anything I needed to do today and tomorrow we'll go to church and then decide what we're doing after that.  Dave is working on a project here and also helping out Gary so everything will depend on how he gets along.

We did go out for lunch today.  We went to Moe's Southwest Grill - I really, really like that place.  I have been so  hungry for Mexican food and this place has good burritos!  It's kind of like Subway where you pick what you want on your burrito!  That was fun!

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Brrrrr.....

It's already down to 46 here - brrr!  It's 33 at home so there's something wrong with this picture!  I had to dig out the jeans tonight.

I worked at the clubhouse today trying to organize books.  I have a whole card table full of books that need to be gotten rid of - they're old or badly soiled or stupid books - like how to defy aging in women!  I've also got a section of political books and most of them are very conservative!  So the hardbacks are all cataloged and I've got the paperbacks to do on another cold day!

I also went to Best Buy with Bob & Ann today - bought a 24" LG TV for $129.  Great buy!  Then we went to Sam's Club - I am not a fan of Sam's.  It seems you walk and walk and walk!    Tonight I played cards and got beat again.

Dave helped Bill put down some vinyl tile today while I was up at the clubhouse.

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What day is this anyway?

I'll sure be glad to get back into a routine because I can't remember what day it is!!  We've had a mixed up schedule for two weeks because of Christmas falling on a Wednesday (and New Year's Day, too), so I don't know if this is Thursday or Friday or what!!  I do know that it's Jan. 2nd because Bob & Ann got back today.  Both of my brothers came down to see us on their bikes...(I've gained a brother - Gary is now my other brother, in case you were wondering!)

Boy, did it ever rain here this afternoon.  It poured cats and dogs for a while!  Right now it's still 67 and we've got windows open, but a cold front is supposed to arrive and tomorrow is to be only in the mid-50's and windy...brrr.  Then Saturday and Sunday back to the 70's!

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New Year's Day

Today was a dreary New Year's Day, but at least it wasn't as cold as it is in O-town!  It rained off and on a lot of the day, but the temps were near 70 anyway.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s but Friday is supposed to only be about 57 degrees and windy - yuck!

We started the new year out with a brunch at the clubhouse.  Evidently the Red Hat ladies host a brunch for the park and today was no different!  We had several different egg dishes, monkey bread, bread pudding, bagels, eclairs, mimosas, etc.  It was very good and there were about 65 people in attendance!

This afternoon, after going to Walmart for a few things, we watched the Outback Bowl with Iowa & LSU.  Iowa waited a bit long to get started, so they couldn't catch up to LSU.   Then tonight we played cards - I had terrible cards all hands but the first one!  We lost!

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