Tarpon Springs again

Yesterday Dave's cousin and his wife came to visit us.  Actually we went to Dockside Dave's to meet them all, and then Mark & Diane came here to stay with us.

Today we went to Tarpon Springs with Mark, Diane, Charlie & Nancy, and Mike & Beth.  We rode another boat today.  This time, though, there was a naturalist on board and she pointed out various birds.  We say oyster catchers, a common loon, a red hooded merganser, and a least tern.   Plus we saw dolphins breeding...never have seen that before!  Pretty cool.  Didn't get any pictures of the dolphins breeding - just too fascinating.  We ate at Hellas again.  When we came out of Hellas to the parking lot, a pair of ospreys who were nesting right near my car, crapped ALL OVER MY CAR!  I've never seen so much bird poop!  All 4 sides of the car got hit...and it was runny!

When we got home, Dave washed the car.  Mark & Diane went to visit their children (who are also down here).  So Dave took a nap while I caught up with my games.

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Cool for ladder ball

We had our ladder ball tournament today.  It was much cooler today than it has been for past ladder ball tournaments.  Since it was so late in March, we didn't have as many participants.  Everyone who played and watched had fun regardless of the light turnout.  Dave got 4th today - he's getting better at competing in these events!  I didn't play - I just kept score.

This evening we watched 2 episodes of Season 3 of Downton Abbey.  Dave said he'd like to watch more just not tonight.

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Soggy again

This was another soggy day.  It rained during the night and then it rained again this afternoon.  We needed the rain, but because of the rain, we didn't go to the Legion today.  As it turned out, we could have gone, but we knew the rain was coming.  Instead, Dave worked with Bob putting up chains to stretch across our driveways while we're gone.  They also put one up at Gary's house.  Then after lunch, we went to Beall's.   I got myself 4 shirts for under $100.  That's pretty good - they had 40% to 50% off of lots of things.

Cards tonight were boring again.  We got beat by over 7,000 points and we got behind on the first hand.  It's not any fun when you get beat that badly.

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Nice, lazy day!

We had a nice day today.  I say it was a lazy day, but it wasn't really.  I worked on books, got a haircut, filed paperwork, and uploaded pictures.  Plus, I made a casserole for tonight's shuffle awards banquet.

The banquet was good - most of the shufflers were there.  Again we had lots of good food and wonderful desserts!

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Shuffled out!

I am tired and sore!  We shuffled up until about 5:15 this evening.  Today was the finals of the singles and then the doubles.  Bob & I won our first match then we were able to eat our lunch in the air conditioned clubhouse!  We then won our second match and went into the championship around 4:10 or so.  Each of our matches went 3 games a piece, and it kept getting hotter and hotter out.  I was dripping sweat by the time we finished.  Unfortunately we didn't play very well our 3rd game of our last match and ended up getting beat.  So we got 2nd in doubles...not bad!  We were happy with 2nd, but really felt we could have been champs if we'd just have made a shot or two.  Oh well, it was fun!

Tonight I got clobbered at cards.  Ann, Nancy and I got beat by Penny, Sandy, and Jewel.

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Shuffleboard Tournament

Today we got to shuffle in our fun tournament.  I got to the 3rd round before I got beat out.  I won my first match, and then I lost both my second and third matches.  Lunch at Marv's Kitchen was wonderful again and the weather was superb!  Couldn't have asked for a nicer day to shuffle.  We'll finish up the singles tomorrow after coffee and then start the doubles tournament.  I've never played doubles, so this will be a whole new experience for me.  I hope I do well, cause with my brother as my partner, I'm sure he'll yell at me if I don't perform up to his standards!!

Bingo tonight was almost a bust...I did win $4, but I spent $9 to win that $4!

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Soggy Monday!

This morning, we were supposed to start our singles shuffleboard tournament.   However, it rained early this morning, so the courts had to be dried first.  Rain delay!  We went up to Marv's Kitchen (in the clubhouse) for lunch and then started shuffling at 12:30.  We only got  3 frames in before the rain came again...and it poured!  It's really hard to shuffle in the rain, so we quit and will resume our games at 9:00 in the morning.

We have the doubles tournament after we get done with singles.  Guess who my doubles partner is...my brother!  That should be fun.

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Fun weekend!

Vicki & her family left on Saturday morning and Friday night Jami and the kids arrived!  Saturday morning Dave and the kids went to the Largo Nature Preserve after breakfast at The Ranch.  Then we went swimming for a couple of hours.  I got a migraine from being in the sun, so I went in to lay down.  While I was "out", the kids went swimming again!  We had a cookout Saturday night.  Today we went to church and then to Roberta's where the kids went swimming again.  I'm sure they are  all tired out after all of the water time they had!

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Phffft!

That basketball game sucked big time!  We were so off - the guys looked tired and nobody could hit the broad side of the barn.  It's too bad because that team was a really good team!  Today, however, UAB was better than us.  I don't mind losing, but we should have won that game.  We could play them 9 more times and we'd win every time except today.  Oh well, it's on to the women tomorrow.

This evening we went to Tarpon Springs with Bob & Ann, Al, Vicki, and Allison.  We took the Island Cruise at Spongearama - fun boat ride and a lovely evening on the water.  Then we had supper at Hellas and finally got home just a bit ago.

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Bowling

We had our last bowling today.  I am ready to be done for the year.  I bowled a good game my first game - a 149, but then I was awful.  I had a 103 and a 133 to end.  Following bowling, we had salad and pizza there at the bowling alley courtesy of the lanes.  Then we had our little awards ceremony.  Dave and I each won $5 and everyone seemed to be happy with the way I gave out the $$.

Tonight we had another dinner at the clubhouse.  This time it was corned beef and cabbage.  I ate some of the corned beef, but I wasn't impressed.  The cabbage was goopd, as were the veggies...and, of course, dessert was wonderful!

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Ran out of time

Busy, busy!!  Yesterday was a pool day and then I came home to sit outside with my brother for a while.  Then I remembered I needed some kind of dessert for this morning's bowling and for tonight's corned beef and cabbage dinner.  So I hurried home and baked cookies.  Then it was time for bingo!  I didn't win at bingo unfortunately!

After bingo, Allison wanted to play Farkle, so we went over there.  They were watching Dancing with the Stars.  Then we played Farkle.  Allison won and I was second!

Now off to bowling!

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Beautiful day

We had a good sermon at church today.  It was all about getting rid of anger and filling ourselves with happiness.  Pastor Jack had some funny things to say about the four kinds of anger.  One thing he said was if you didn't recognize yourself in one of the types, you were lying to yourself!  Very good message.

We came home and Dave helped me finish up the tax paperwork.  He's going to take it and have the papers copied, then mail the packet out tomorrow.  About 2:00 Vicki, Al & Allison arrived for a week.  It is so good to see them.  We went to The Pub tonight to eat - sat outside on a beautiful night!  No dolphins, though!

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Fun day!

We went on an adventure today!  We started to go to Indian Rocks Nature Preserve, but just as we were about to turn onto Gulf Blvd from W Bay, we saw some Roseate Spoonbills off to our right.  So I turned right instead of left.  We couldn't get close to them because everywhere around them from that side was private property.  So I got back out on Gulf Blvd and turned back on W Bay.  We parked at the Community Center on the S side of the street and crossed busy W Bay on foot!  We (along with several other people) got to see Roseate Spoonbills, a Reddish Egret (which are not very common), a wood stork, a Great Blue Heron, a cormorant or  two, and a bunch of ibis.  Great photo opportunities!!

When we had taken our pictures (about 250 of them!) we drove on to the Indian Rocks Nature Preserve.  It was a nice walk, surrounded by mangroves, but no birds!  There was a pretty view at the end of the boardwalk!

I took this shot above the mangroves.  I just loved all of the different shades of green!

Next stop was John's Pass where I wanted to pick up some little gifts for our bowling cheerleaders and while we were there, we had a light lunch at Scully's.  After we ordered and were just people watching, a guy walked by who had played football at Iowa State from 1969-1972 (before I got there, but I knew him).  So I hollered at him and he and his wife ended up eating lunch with us!  It was fun seeing them again and chatting!

We came back home after all of that and just puttzed around until 6:00 when the Cyclones played in the Big 12 Tourney Championship game against Kansas.  We had to do another comeback, but we did it and we're Champs two years in a row.  Now I'm exhausted and heading to bed.  What a great adventure!

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Venice

Bob, Ann, Dave and I took off for Venice at 8:15 this morning.  We went down there to see our aunt and cousin.  Sue is a horse trainer and she brought 5 horses down to show.  She had the flu while she was in Kentucky and didn't get in until 3:00 this morning.  Aunt Janie will be 90 in June, but she's pretty spry!  Sue was feeling better this morning, but she had really been sick.

Played cards tonight - there were only 6 of   us, but we still had fun.  Now we're watching the Cyclones play Oklahoma.  I hope they play better  earlier!

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Awesome!

Awesome last second shot to defeat Texas in the Big 12 tournament!  Way to go Cyclones!!

This morning, we left home around 7:30 to go to Largo Nature Preserve to see what birds we could see.  We took lots of pictures and came home absolutely drenched!  It was so humid that my glasses kept steaming over every time I took a picture!  It was like the sky was falling.  We saw parrots and grebes and shovelers and herons and ospreys!!  It was lots of fun, plus good exercise!

 It was beautiful this morning!

 Pair of yellow crowned night herons nesting!

This evening we had our annual taco bar.  It was wonderful again!  I really miss Mexican food!

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HOT DAY!

It was almost 90 degrees today - hot and humid!  We went up to coffee this morning and after our monthly meeting, we played shuffleboard.  I lost my first game and won my second.

This evening we went to Barb & Keith's Le Chambre condo to watch the sunset.  It was pretty, but nothing like the one the other night at Sudi & Howard's!  Fun evening, though!

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B & B

Bowling went pretty well for me.  I had a 147, a 128, and another 147.  I actually got high series for the women!  Donna had a 156 for a high game, but my series was higher.  Dave didn't do as well as he can do.

Tonight at bingo, I was a loser!  I couldn't even come close!

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Another glorious day!

This was another beautiful day - warm and a bit humid!  It was great, though, for our Can-Am Day picnic on 1st Street.  There were about 75 people who came out in their Red, White and Blue for a wonderful cookout.  The Canadians always go all out - they wear their colors so proudly.  The Americans also were decked out in stars and stripes!  Lots of fun!

Tonight we've just been hanging out - Dave is reading on his Kindle and I'm watching Downton Abbey Season 3!

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Ooops!

I was so busy downloading (or uploading, whichever) pictures that I forgot to post last night.  Sorry about that!  We had a great day!  Church was good.  Sermon was about patience...hmmm.  Then in the afternoon, Dave went to the hospital with Bill from here in the park.  He has no family, so Dave went with him.  Dave and I had massages at 3:30 and then off to Sudi and Howard's for dinner!

The evening went by so fast - good conversation and good food.  Thank you both!  We also went to the beach for the sunset - gorgeous!

Now I have to get my red, white, and blue on 'cause it's Can-Am Day at The Ranch!!

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HB 2 Me!

I have had a wonderful birthday..  I didn't get up  until about 7:45 and this morning I got to watch several episodes of Downton Abbey before lunch!  We had a very light lunch and then ran to Hammerhead Hardware for a bit.  This afternoon I watched more of Downton Abbey before we had to get ready to go to pasta night at the clubhouse.  We had spaghetti, meatballs, sausages, and ziti all made from scratch by Italians here in the park!  Very good!!  For dessert, there was birthday cake (courtesy of Dave), ice cream, strawberry pie (courtesy of Ann), lemon meringue pie, brownies, fudge, cake and cookies - almost anything you could want!

We came home and I watched another episode of DA, and now I'm watching my Cyclones beat TCU for an almost perfect day!!  Plus I heard from over 300 of my friends who wished me a happy birthday.  Great memories!

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Cooler today

Dave and I took Babe & Jewel to the Legion today.  Unfortunately, the sun didn't shine so it wasn't quite as nice there as normal.  It was still nice, though.  There were 24 of us who had some connection to The Ranch at the Legion today!  We got our meal done and left before any sprinkles started.  As we were driving down Gulf Blvd, it started raining and even tonight it was misting.  Babe & Jewel enjoyed going and since they're here without a car, hopefully they'll go with us again.  We really enjoy this couple!

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Dentist visit #2

Today was my return trip to the dentist.  This time I was in the chair for over 4 hours!!  So, it was another marathon!  He first seated my two crowns and my bridge which ended up taking about an hour.  Then he did a crown prep on the other side and that took 3 hours because they had to do 6 impressions before they got one that was good enough to make the crown with.  By the time I got home I was exhausted!

Tomorrow is a Legion day!

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Warm Wednesday

We started our day at coffee this morning.  I had a bad night last night.  I woke up at 2:00 with severe acid reflux - probably from the jerk chicken I ate at noon!  I ended up coming out to my chair and sleeping sitting up!  I did very well that way until Dave came to wake me up after he got up.  I didn't get rid of that acid reflux until after I drank a diet Coke with my breakfast!  It was a weird feeling, but I'm glad it's gone.

After coffee, we left for Bradenton to have lunch with Dave's sister, Pat, and Roberta.  We got to see the progress they've made on their condo - it's going to be beautiful!  Then we went to The Beach House for lunch.  I had chicken salad, which was very good.  Dave ate my fries with his salad.  It was such a gorgeous day that we sat right by the  water in the sun!  The Beach House always has a flavored bread and today's was pina colada bread!  Talk about scrumptious!!

I played cards tonight and won and we re-listed our house in O-town today!

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B & B

Finally, I had a good day at bowling AND I had a good night at bingo!  At bowling today, I had the high game of everyone.  I had a 191 and a 452 series.  Roger led the men with a 170 and a 510 series.  So he beat me in series, but I got high game - wahoo!  For lunch we went to Rumba's and sat outside.  It was such a gorgeous day - in fact, it was hot out!  Especially hot when you're sitting in the sun eating jerk chicken!  Food was wonderful, too.

This evening at bingo, I got to yell bingo twice!  My earnings tonight were $37, so I can play for at least 4 more weeks!

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Adventure

Dave and I went on an adventure today to Myakka River State Park.  On the way to there, we saw a pair of Sand Hill Cranes and 2 babies!  Sweet.  We were probably about 15 feet from them!

Once we got to the park, we got on the air boat and saw hundreds of alligators!  We also saw some cool birds and even a deer.  It was a good day!

Beautiful today - up in the 80's with lots of humidity!!

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Warmth finally!

It's been a long time since we've been this warm!  Finally we had an 80 degree day - with humidity!  It felt so good to be outside in the sun and actually be warm again!  Thank you, God!

We had a wonderful day.  We went to church services and then we met up with Sudi, Howard, Becky, Jim, Nancy, and Rod at Bubba Gump's at Madeira Beach.  Good food and good company.  Nice to see my classmates again!

We even got to see a couple of dolphins and I got a picture of a pelican flying over my head!  I've tried and tried to get a good shot of a flying bird and I finally got it.  Dave's much better at it than I am!

This dolphin was really close to the shore - just hanging out today!

Here's my flying pelican!  If you zoom in, you can see a drop of water on the tip of its beak!  Love how big their wing span is!

Tonight we had the awards potluck for our Senior Olympics.  Again good food and good friends!  Some of the ladies stayed to play cards, but I didn't want to tonight.  I just wanted to come home!

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