Woohoo!!

My bowling lesson paid off!  I bowled a 122-124-145!!  I got better each game and I didn't struggle to get 100!  My goal today was to get 5 cards for cribbage (in one game!!)   I did in my 3rd game!  You get a card every time you get a mark...and I actually got 6 marks (but you only can get 5 cards!)  Not only did I bowl better, AND reach my goal of 5 cards...I beat Bob the first game, then he won the 2nd game, and I won the 3rd game...plus I won overall!!  I love competing with my brother!!

After bowling we went to Rumba's for lunch.  I think there were 36 of us today - 24 bowlers and 12 others who came just for the restaurant.  We got to eat outside!!  Good food, but inconsistent helping portions.  I had Caribbean pulled pork with mango BBQ sauce and red garlic mashed potatoes.  Very good!!  Loved the sauce! 

Bob & Dave worked on putting down quarter-round in our living room and 2nd bedroom.  It really looks nice!  They also got the transoms covered up!  I vacuumed and Swiffered and then Dave went over the floor with the wet jet with floor polish.  Looks really nice! 

Tonight was bingo...I didn't win any bingos.  Ann won 2, though.  I did win a door prize, so I took extra speedy cards for next week!

More later...

Adventures!!

We had adventures today!!  This morning we went to the bowling alley to get some instruction from a teacher.  As it turns out he was a little guy who looked enough like Dick Dutton to be his long lost twin.  He was a pretty good instructor!!  My first two balls with him helping me (?) were strikes - ha!!  I used to do that with golf too...whenever Julie was around, I hit the ball perfectly - long and straight!!  When she went to work with someone else, I'd lift my head or miss the ball entirely!!  He worked with Dave a great deal - our instruction period was 2 hours!!  He put two of us on one lane and the other two students on the next lane.  They didn't get as much instruction as we did because this was our first week!!  The other two people had been there before so they were old-timers!  We'll see how well we do tomorrow - if we can remember everything he told us to work on!!

We came home about noon and grabbed a sandwich.  Sudi & Howard came over about 1:00 and we went to Tampa to the electric power plant to see the manatees that gather there in the warm water.  We saw a lot of manatees...the ones out farthest away from us were playing - they just kept coming to the surface and then going down into the water - kind of like whales.  The ones that were closer to us just kind of hung out with their backs out of the water!  Then a cow and calf came under the observation deck, followed by another younger manatee.  Pretty cool to see them that close!  We also saw snook, mullets, tarpon, and a bottle nosed shark (I didn't see it, but Dave did).  Great adventure!  Thanks for sharing it with us, S & H!!

Tonight I played 7s from Hell - albeit not very well.  That Ann is the luckiest card player!  She gets the best cards dealt to her!! 

I looked at the temperature in O-town today - it was 65 there and 74 here!  Pretty amazing for Jan. 30th!!  Even now it's 57 there and 66 here!! 

More later...

Beautiful!

I love days like this!  Not too  hot, not too cool - no humidity - just right!  We went to church this morning.  This church is nice, but I'm sooooo happy that we have Pastor David!  He's so very interesting!!  Today Hope Presbyterian installed & ordained another deacon and another elder...they did this a couple of weeks ago too.  Plus, they had their annual congregational meeting, which we didn't stay for...I wonder if ours at home was today too.  Hope still has another installation and ordination coming up.  They weren't able to get everyone together to have only 1 ceremony, or even 2...they had to have 3.  The ceremony is kind of boring, especially when you hear it twice within a month!

After church we went to Great Clips because my hair was way too long!  Stupid day to go there!  There were 5 people ahead of me and all 3 chairs were already full.  Dave dropped me off and he went to Target to pick up a couple of items.  By the time he came back to check on me, I was still 5 away from getting into a chair!  I don't know how long I waited, but I got a pretty good haircut!  The lady who cut my hair was probably in her 60s and loved my curly hair!  Every cut she made, my hair got curlier and she just loved it!!  Hers is perfectly straight so she was jealous!

After we got home and ate a PB & pickle sandwich, Bob stopped by for a few minutes.  Then I went next door where they'd been drinking rum since 10:30 AM.  Needless to say, a couple of the guys were pretty well snockered!!  It was funny!  They were trying to watch their language but the alcohol was loosening their tongues!  I came back home after about 30-45 minutes and Dave was sound asleep in his chair.  He's been working so hard!! 

Nothing much on TV tonight, but Dave's watching Speed channel - boring! 

More later...

L is for...

loser!  Today we had a poker run here in the park.  You "bought" a poker hand for $2.00, then you followed a series of clues to get your 5 cards.  I got 2 eights and 4 hearts, but nothing else...too bad, too, because the pot was $80+ for the winner!!  All the $$ was paid out - $166 - but neither Ann nor I got any of it :( - bummer!!

I came home from the poker run and watched my Cyclones beat the Kansas Jayhawks in men's basketball...that was really fun!!  Dave helped Bob paint the trim on their mobile home this afternoon. 

I also found pinterest.com - what a fun place!!  Lots of cool stuff! 

More later...

What did we do today??

Why, we went to Lowe's for the 900th time since we've been here!  I HATE Lowe's!!!  Not really - I just get tired of being there all the time!!  Since it was raining this morning, it rained out shuffleboard.  So, Bob, Ann, Dave and I went to Lowe's.  Then we went to Michaels and to Ross'.  By the time we got through with those 3 stores, it was lunchtime, so we went to Pete & Shorty's on Gulf to Bay.  Pete & Shorty's is a bar/restaurant in Clarksville, Iowa.  The one down here (1,368 miles southwest of the original) started after the guys who started the Hooters chain decided to start a P&S too.  The Hooters chain was started by two guys (among others) from Waverly, Iowa.  The original Hooters is next door to the Pete & Shorty's we went to today.  I had a Loose Meat Pete which is sort of like a Maid-Rite and fries.  It was pretty good!  The other three had the Friday special - fried fish & fries (plus cole slaw).  The fish special was a mild white fish which reminded me of Long John Silvers fish.  I think Ann said it was pollock.  It was fish that even I could eat!

This afternoon I made a chipped beef dip for happy hour.  There were about 26 of us at happy hour - good crowd.  Everyone brings things to snack on for happy hour, so there's no need to have supper!  Tonight we've just been hangin' out!  More later...

Great Day

We had a wonderful day today.  We left at 8:30 this morning for Sarasota so Dave could go fishing with his dad.  As it turned out, it wasn't a great day for fishing - it got really, really windy.  I have never seen white caps on the water at Lido before - sure did today, though.  Dave said there were dolphins or porpoises playing in the water there.  I missed them, unfortunately, because Roberta and I were shopping at Bealls!! 

She and I picked up Subway sandwiches for the guys and took them out to Lido.  We sat right near the water at a picnic bench, holding on to our sandwiches and napkins for dear life.  If you put anything down the wind just blew it away!  The sand out there is that really fine white sand - sometimes my sandwich tasted a little gritty!!

Roberta and I also picked up 10 quarts of strawberries - 2 for them, 2 for Bob & Ann, 2 for Ron & Marcia, 2 for Sudi & Howard, and 2 for us...are they ever delicious!!  The strawberry beds are beautiful...perfectly straight lines, raised beds covered with black paper, and not a blade of grass anywhere near the berries!

On our way home today, Dave was driving and I was watching the water near the Sunshine bridge.  Guess what I saw -- yep, I saw a dolphin!!  Yay - it was a very good day!!

More later...

What a beautiful day!!

Went to coffee today and, of course, the park meeting.  We found out that the ladies rule at bowling...again!  Next week Bob & Ann, Ron & Marcia, and Dave & I are coffee hosts.  It's next MONTH, and starts next week.  We have to be at the clubhouse by 5:45 or so when the rolls are delivered.  Plus it takes an hour to make the coffee and get the clubhouse set up for the meeting.  Now, I'm not an early riser, so I'm thinking since Bob gets up early and Dave doesn't mind getting up early, they should be there at 5:45 and I'll get there in time for coffee at 9:00...then those of us who don't get up early can be there for clean up...how does that sound???

After coffee, we went to find a Walgreens that could print and mount 16x20 photos. We had to go clear down to Indian Rocks Rd & West Bay to find one.  We got this printed while we waited.  Well, the lady goofed and made us a 20x30 print, which is fine - we'll hang it here.  This blue heron is beautiful!  I've got to get some flower and water pictures taken someplace, now that we know where we can get them printed. 

Since we were already in the area, we went to Columbia Restaurant today - met Sudi and Howard there.  It was a gorgeous day to sit on the water and have a leisurely lunch.  Love those 1905 salads at Columbia!!  After sitting in the sun so long, I was sleepy and Dave had some reports to take care of...so, I took a nap while he worked on his reports.  It felt great!! 

Tomorrow we're going to Sarasota so Dave and Maury can catch some more little whitings!!  More later...