Expensive Couple of Days Part 1

We have been busy.

Again.

*I'm sensing a theme here.... lol

So Friday we took the day off,

well those that WORK took the day off.

Those of us who just lay around on the

couch and watch Jerry Springer and

eat bon bons just went along for the ride.

Kyle drove us all up to Gainesville.

It's about a 3+ hour drive.

Especially when we have to keep

stopping for pit stops.

It was a nice drive.

Eventually we arrived at our destination.

Some trailer place.

(I have no idea what it's called.... lol)

(I was just along for the ride, remember?)

They were ready for us.

Hard to see, but Kyle has hooked up

to a big gooseneck trailer.

A big ol Big Tex goose neck trailer.

Long and strong enough to hold his tractor.

Imagine they look excited.

Because inside they are 4 year old boys

yelling at the top of their lunges.

They got a really good deal.

(Doesn't Rod always?)

(MASTER NEGOTIATOR HERE!)

After hooking it all up,

we headed back down south again.

(Since I still had to drive to West Palm

to teach for the weekend...)

See!  I still work.  (ish)

Once we got home, naturally they

had to immediately put the toys 

ahem, tools together.

Looks good!  The tractor actually looks

kind of small, but there is plenty

of room for him to put the next

installment of implements

he will need to do what he wants to do.

Meanwhile,

Houston, we have TRANSPORTATION!

SWEET!

Thursday Already!

Wow!

Time flies when you are having fun!

And I have been.

Relaxing is FUN!

And cooking real food is fun!

(Don't ask Kyle, he doesn't think

the food I cook is real...)

But we DID try out a Blue Apron

recipe he found online.

And it was really good!

Pork chops.

And he doesn't usually eat pork.

I just got back from delivering my eggs.

Next door.

They were having a sale on

pasture raised pork.

So I bought a nice butt.

(There's a sentence you don't read often...)

I'm going to put it in the

pressure cooker tomorrow

(it's frozen solid)

and make yummy pulled pork

for the guys to eat this weekend

while I'm out of town.

(Maybe Kyle will eat it...)

Meanwhile,

Rod finished the roof last night.

What a relief!!!!!

It looks fantastic!

Putting up the final corner piece.

It was a lot of work, climbing up and down

the ladder mostly.

Each piece was a different size

(Bill obviously didn't believe in measuring,

so when he put the room up, under cover 

of night, NOTHING is square or even.

Sheesh.)

so Rod had to put one up,

then measure and go cut the next one,

then back up the ladder to install it.

Rinse and repeat.

But it is finally done and it looks terrific.

All we have left is to buy and install

the ceiling fan.

We have it picked out, I just need to

go pick it up.

Rod has a sore jaw this week,

so he is leaving work early (in about

30 minute actually) and we are heading

to the doctor to check it out.

Might be an infection of some sort.

Oil of Oregano is helping,

but he doesn't want to take chances.

We will probably go get the fan

when we are done there.

And then I have a little bit of touch-up

painting to do in the living room and

bedroom where the roof leaked before,

and then we are FINISHED.

For this round.

(hahahahahahaha)

***************************************

Lost dog update:

The woman FINALLY called about 3:30

and said she was at work 

(after I texted her husband again to let

him know I STILL had his dogs...)

She brought her daughter and they

came to get the dogs about 5:30.

She was really nice and gave me

a gas card as a thank you.

(My hands were full of dog leashes, and she stuck it in my pocket.)

Anyhow.

They were glad to go home.

I think.

The little girl REALLY wanted to go see

the horses, but it is SO muddy here

and she was in her school uniform and shoes.

Whew.  I'm sure they didn't love

spending the day in my laundry room.

*****************************

PS - LOVING my new computer!

But I'm going to need a tutorial on 

this nifty pen.  I'm sure it does things

I've only dreamed about...

Such Excitement!

Such an exciting day!

First, I am coming to you from

my fabulous new computer!!!

Ignore the messy table.

I'm retired.  LOL

(Actually, that's what is on the

list to be tackled today...)

Wow!

What an amazing gift from my

amazing family!

Mom, Dad, Nancy, Reid, Rozann, Greg!

You guys ROCK!!!!!

Gone are the days of trying desperately

to make a blog on my iPad.

YUCK!

So.

That's not the end of it.

I went out this morning to 

feed the animals.

A cold front came through

over night and it was only 

64!

Considering it has been in the 80's every

morning, this was quite a culture shock!

I was just sitting quietly on my chair,

waiting for the boys to finish their

breakfast, when I glanced up and noticed

WAAAAY out on the road,

two little white Shitzu-ish fluffy dogs.

With no people following them.

My dogs have gotten out enough,

and my neighbors have rescued them enough,

that I knew it was my turn to return the favor.

So I jumped up and went out and got them.

Brought them into our yard.

The brown one is a female,

the white one is a male.

And they are FAT!

Kyle named with Fred and Ethel.

After he left for work, I got them

each on a leash and we headed out

back down the road to see if we

could figure out where they live.

We stopped at a couple of houses,

when finally one of the ladies

recognized them.

They are actually Rock and Roll.

LOL

And their Mom is coming to get them.

Soon I hope.

In the meantime, I have them hiding

in my laundry room.

OUR dogs are NOT impressed!

(Nor were the horses.)

But the dogs LOVED the chickens!

SO much excitement!

I was going to run next door and get egg

cartons and wash my eggs for this week 

and then run to the grocery store.

But now I'm stuck here until the woman

comes to get them.

Her husband said he sent her.

Hopefully she's actually coming.

Before 5:00.

Oh well.

It's my turn to help out a neighbor.

AND I get to blog about it!

On my

  NEW COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!

New Ceiling

We have messed with our flat roofed patio

out back for a couple of years.

It leaked.

And then it was ugly.

And then it was rotting.

And it was still ugly.

Over the weekend Rod and Kyle

decided they'd had enough and

tackled the problem.

They put up some new aluminum

roofing panels.

And they are working on replacing and adding

new vented soffit all around the edges.

(Or is it fascia?  I can never remember which...)

Anyhow.

It's not ugly anymore...

In fact...

It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

The little worm hanging from the center

is the wires for the new ceiling fan.

That will be going up next.

But in the meantime...

I LOVE IT!

(And them!)

Great work guys!

First Week in the Bag

Well.

I'm retired.

And I've BEEN retired for a week.

And its been really nice.

Except for the whole being sick part.

LOL

I'm feeling better every day.

Still not planning to do much today though.

I'm driving down to West Palm

this afternoon to get ready for school.

I have 150 students pre-registered.

I'm HOPING only 25-ish show up.

The other schools around the state are

having those sorts of numbers.

TONS of people registered,

but tiny numbers actually showing up.

(They think people are registering in 

multiple locations and others are just

registering to get the points...)

Anyhow.

Wish me luck!

LOL

Meanwhile, this morning I went out

and fed the animals and then sat in my

chair in the sunshine and read for half

an hour.  It was really nice!

Then Kyle came out on his way to work

and we visited for a bit.

(Nice to work for yourself - flex hours...)

And now I'm in the house making breakfast.

And it brought me back to millions of

breakfasts back in the old days.

Mom slicing bananas onto bowls of mush.

I'm slicing half a banana onto a bowl of mush.

Ok, steel cut oats made in my pressure cooker

(I made a week's worth on Monday)

with freeze dried wild blueberries and strawberries.

But still...

LOL

Thanks Mom for getting up all those mornings

and cutting grapefruits or slicing bananas,

making mush so we didn't start the day with

sugar filled cold cereal like some of our friends.

Now I'm going to go sit and eat.

Have a great Friday!

Happy Birthday to My Mom!!!!

Today is the day we get to celebrate

the birth of my amazing Mom.

We've had some health scares.

We've had major relocations.

We've had changes and modifications

and ... well ... life.

But through it all, we've had Mom.

(Sorry Mom, I know you tried

and tried and tried to get us to

call you Mother.  But it just never stuck.)

(Take heart, we didn't call you MUM!  LOL)

You (and Dad) devoted your entire life

to raising a house FULL of responsible,

loving, independent, respectful,

loving, (did I say that already?)

spiritual, family oriented,

amazing adults.

Ahem.

I have to say,

you are 5 for 5.

That is quite an accomplishment.

There were some rough patches.

Isn't that what life is all about?

By your fruits, they shall know you.

And your fruits are pretty amazing.

But enough about us.

(hahahaha)

Sadly, your job is never done.

We continue to look to you as an example

of how to live a gracious, loving,

thoughtful and kind life.

We look to you to see a successful,

loving, respectful, eternal marriage.

We look to you to see a thoughtful,

kind, sharing neighbor (especially as

you move to a new neighborhood

where you are cultivating new lasting

friendships.)

We look to you to see a valuable

member of a team keeping the Lord's

House open and working efficiently 

for His work to be done.

We look to you to see a loving and

well loved Grandma who supports,

loves, encourages her grandchildren

in all that they do.

We look to you to see someone who 

has never taken a knock and given up.

We look to you to see someone who

has never seen someone else take a knock

and not reached out a hand to lift them up.

We look to you to see who we strive

to be each and every day.

We look to you.

Today Is The Day!!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!!!!

You can't tell it by looking at me.

Cuz I'm at work.

LOL

But inside I'm SO EXCITED!!!

It's a terrible picture,

but this is where I have spent the 

past couple of months.

And my shirt says it all.

I'm All About NAPS! zzzzz

Thursday Aimless Ramblings

TWO DAYS LEFT!!!!!

I have nothing to do.

So I'm just hanging out here.

Counting the minutes.

Strangely not nostalgic or doing

any of the "almost the last time I'll do that..."

sort of thing.

Except driving on the highway.

Almost the last time I HAVE to do that

in the morning rush.

I was looking through my old email files

and found an email from my old friend

Kathy Salter.

She used to live here in town

and then moved to Utah.

I took a chance and sent an email

and she got right back to me!

(We are friends on FB, but neither of us are 

very active on there...)

We've been emailing back and forth.

It's been fun!

She works for one of the colleges out there.

We used to talk on the phone for hours

everyday when we were both stay at home moms

with a house full of little kids.

She had all girls - red heads.

One of the things I'm super excited about

is finally being able to talk to my FAMILY 

during the day!

Bringing back Thursday morning phone chats with Sondra.

Daily (ok, probably not, I'm not that good)

chats with Mom & Dad.

Figuring out Nancy and Rozann's schedules

and trying to find a good time to visit with them. 

Heads up.

The first week I'm not likely to communicate

with anybody.

I'm probably going to see if I can

impersonate a zombie.

It is nearly Halloween after all.

I would actually like to give that a try today!

Did one of those "wake up a 2:24 and stay awake until 4"

things again over night.

Sheesh.

I usually only do that in hotels.

Finally got up and drank a bottle of water.

Eventually I drifted back off again.

But my alarm clock still goes off.

ONLY ONCE MORE!!!!

Hee hee!

Ok.

This is enough rambling.

I promise I'll do better.

One of these days.....

Tired.....

Whew!

I survived.

Drove over to Orlando Thursday evening

and checked into my hotel.

It was an experience.

Because of the hurricane, all the hotels

in the state are BOOKED SOLID.

Tons and tons of construction workers

and plumbers and electricians and

even still some power company crews.

I couldn't book 5 nights in a row.

So I booked 1 night, and then 4 more.

But my boss also asked me to book a

room for the spanish instructor coming

over from Tampa.

For his room I couldn't get the same

set up as mine, I had to do the opposite.

4 nights in a row and then 1 more night.

The poor girl at the front desk was 

a little flummoxed.  But we got it figured out.

I had to check out and check back in

the next morning.

Shout out to Sue at the front desk,

when I got down there Friday morning,

she had already done it all for me and

put me back in the same room.

YEA SUE!

(Like she will ever see this... lol)

I drove over and with the help of another

instructor (it's his normal site) we sat 

around and waited for the hordes to show up.

(There were 237 people registered for a class

across town, we had no idea how many were

going to choose to battle the Friday morning

Orlando traffic and descend on us...)

I got 10.

Class started at 9.  They strolled in at 8:59.

Seriously.

Class went well for all 4 days.

There were minor technical glitches,

and a LOT of people running around.

But we managed to get it done.

My boss told me I had to spend the night

Monday night - good choice!  I was a bit whipped.

Tuesday morning I woke up EARLY and drove

back over the swamps to work.

Spent the day training my replacement,

and then spent almost 2 hours trying to submit

my expense report.  It was crazy confusing

and the website kept crashing.

I was TIRED!

So I left work at the end of the day.

Stopping by Aldi's to pick up some eggs

for the dogs and then hitting the highway.

Again.

Then I called Rod.

Hi Sweetheart.

Where are you?

He said (ok, I HEARD)

I'm with James at a bar at Coastal Hyundai.

Crickets.

My brain is struggling.

We don't call Jim James.

Rod would NEVER meet him at a bar.

And Coastal Hyundai is a car dealership,

but not the one Jim works at...

he sells Volkswagen!

So I just said, Ok, I'll see you at home.

When he got home, I asked him to explain

where he was when I called.

He said

"I was doing my Home Teaching,

meeting with James Adabar where he

works at Coastal Hyundai."

Whew!!!!!!

I probably shouldn't talk on the phone

when I'm that tired.

COUNT DOWN UPDATE.....

THREE DAYS AND COUNTING!!!!!

(There was a big wreck on the highway this morning

and it took me almost as long to make the turn off

the highway to my office as it took to drive from

our town up here!  And I was calm as a cucumber.

Late Shmate.

Who cares.

LOL!!!!!)

Story - What Was One of Your Favorite Children's Stories

Ooooooooooh, stories!

We were a story reading / telling family.

And we all loved it!

MY favorites were very specific.

#1 Favorite:  Mufty Mouser Goes to School

I was little. I was sick. Measles maybe?

I just remember being sick enough that I

was in Mom and Dad's bed and

Dr. Medlicott (isn't that the BEST dr name?)

came to the house to see me!

My Dad brought home a book just for me.

All about a little girl mouse named

Mufty Mouser.

I made them read it to me so many times

that my nickname became Mufty Mouser,

although I often went by just Mufty or Muff.

#2 Favorite:  Three Billy Goats Gruff

(The World Book Story Book edition)

(green spine?)

I remember sitting on the couch in the

front room with Sondra 

having her read that to me.

A billion times.

Enough that her nickname for me

became Mufty Gruff.

(And of course I married Rod and became

Mufty Gruff Buff!)

I guess I'm not one for a lot of variety.

(Although I was a voracious reader and

eventually had a "nest" in the space under 

the stairs complete with a sleeping bag,

pillows, and a little lamp.  (And a really

long extension chord...)

I still love to re-read my special favorites.

At least annually.

Jane Eyre - Merrill Atkey introduced me to Jane.

I was sick (again).  She brought it over for me

to read and I fell in love.

Lord of the Rings - Sondra hooked me in to

that one by reading out loud in Gollum's voice

and then trading and having me read to her.

We were laying on her bed in her basement

room - she fell asleep while I was reading to her,

but by then it was too late - I was hooked and

had to read the whole thing.

The Robe - I "borrowed" it from the library.

I never returned it.

(I lost it a couple of years ago,

and found another Ancient copy on Amazon

and immediately bought it.)

I was sick.  (hahahahahaha) and put Nancy's

George Harrison's "Dark Horse" on the record

player on repeat.

The Robe will forever have the sound track

of Hare Krishna chanting in the background.

(WEIRD, I know...)

Mom finally came and closed my door.

(hahahahahahahaha - sorry Mom!)

Hunger Games - I know.  I'm a 14 year old girl.

I wasn't sick!!!!!

I was on vacation, staying in Rozann's

AWESOME casita.

I read the entire series.

With the Piano Guys on repeat on my iPod.

So yup, they are permanently matched in my head.

There are certain Piano Guys songs that 

when I hear them, I have a most compelling

urge to whip out my Kindle and read

them again.

Howdy

We are drying out.

It is WINDY!

But that's good.

It's helping our property dry out a bit.

Of course they are predicting another

9 - 10" of rain between now and Friday.

We'll take it though.

Our aquafir has been low for awhile.

The main problem now is that the

ground is so saturated, trees are coming down.

And the SINK HOLES!

Oh my goodness!

Whole houses are being swallowed.

Not like on every block or anything,

but it's pretty devastating when it happens

so of course it makes the news.

*************************************

In other news...

I sent an email to my boss

and his assistant letting them know

of my upcoming retirement and 

availability to substitute teach if needed.

He sent me a text shortly after receiving

my email and said he and his assistant 

were JUST trying to figure out how they

were going to cover an emergency class

they have to run this weekend.

Presto!

I'm your gal!!!!!!

The company is running a special this month

where they are waiving the fee to start up.

And people are signing up in DROVES!

My West Palm Beach class is already

"sold out".  (Which means I probably

have 75 students registered.  For a room

that holds 30 MAX.  Hopefully stats hold

true and more than 50% will be no-shows.)

Meanwhile, they have a school in Orlando

that has 150 people registered!

So they are going to start school on Friday

morning at 8:00.  Once the room reaches

capacity, they will send the over flow to me,

and my class will start at 9:00.

Should be interesting.

(Which means I am calling in "sick" on Friday

and Monday in order to run this school.)

(My supervisor here suggested I use sick time

instead of vacation time, since I have over 250 hours

of sick time and I will lose it ALL when I leave.)

(I love this lady.)

(She is one of the very few things I will miss.)

(Meanwhile - I did look into the possibility

of "donating" my sick hours to my coworker

who has some real health issues. 

But they said no.)

(boo hiss)

Monday the 16th is boss' day.

I will be gone by then.

But I'm going to mail her a card

with a good sized gift card inside 

to thank her for 17 years of

"I've got your back".

It's Raining, It's Pouring

But I'm not sure if the old man was snoring.

Since he was in the Keys with Kyle.

I'm sure you saw his FB posts.

He's really good at updating everybody

and keeping everyone abreast of what's happening

around here.

But.  While they were gone,

working in the brutal heat and cloudless

skies, we were having bit of a 

"tropical disturbance".

(I swear, those weathermen...)

I would have taken a picture, but

was afraid to take my phone outside!

We have more water now than

we EVER have had from a hurricane!

The chicken yard is ankle deep.

Luckily we haven't cleaned out the 

coops lately (dirt floor but it gets

taller and taller until you have to duck

to walk in there - we are almost to that point)

so they do have somewhere high and dry

to hang out.

I put 4 patio stones out there so I didn't

have to walk in the mud.

The ducks have claimed them as their islands.

The horse's have a sand lot right behind

the barn - that is also ankle deep on the horses!

I kept them in the barn last night to help

them dry out their feet, but they can't stay

in there forever...

They also have a couple of pastures, but those

are all super wet as well!

Sometimes we put them in the front yard.

But that's underwater!

The cow pasture seems a little higher

than the rest - Bill (the guy we bought the 

property from) dug a pond in the middle

of where the cows are now and just before

he moved, he brought in a bunch of fill dirt

and filled it back in (since he dug it under

the cover of night and didn't pull a permit).

It might be a bit higher, but it's still pretty wet.

Rod is off work today (thought it was going

to be a travel day after the weekend but they

headed home early yesterday afternoon) so

he was going to just open all the pasture gates

and let the horses and cows find the driest spot.

Standing is water isn't good for anybody's feet!

Luckily we are on a septic system,

since the city's water system is totally overloaded.

They are asking people not to do laundry,

dishes, shower, or flush unless absolutely necessary.

(But if the rain doesn't slow down, our septic

might be too full to accept anymore water too!)

This is easily the wettest I have seen our property

in all the years we have been here or even when

we were next door!  (2001)

But Brocks' place is even worse!

Luckily he has a hill at the front of his property

where the donkey and goats are hanging out.

Wouldn't be surprised to see his cows up there

today as well.

(They are usually in a pasture in the back, but

I'll bet that is totally underwater, based on the 

rest of his property...)

However, the house is a little higher than anything

(except the barn) and we are high and dry.

No worries about the house flooding.

They are forecasting more and more and more

rain for the rest of the week.  It's not that much

rain really, it's just that after the hurricane and the

tropical storm that followed, the ground is FULL.

However, the wind is also supposed to be

blowing pretty strong, which helps the ground

dry out.  (weird, I know...)

However, again, since the ground is saturated,

a good strong wind may blow over a bunch 

of trees since the ground can't hold the 

roots securely anymore.

Should make for a fun week.

But I'm counting down to my LAST DAY

so NOTHING can dampen my spirits!

(Even if I got TOTALLY drenched multiple

times yesterday while taking care of the animals...)

Sure wish we could send some of this

out to the fires!

Hopefully the winds blow it that way.

Happy Monday!!!!