I'm OVER Plan B

Seems like I've been having to use

Plan B an awful lot lately.

Good thing my middle name

is "Flexible".

(Ok, it really isn't, but I try to

stay positive-ish.)

First my hotel!

The hotel I've been staying in for

the last year received some hurricane

damage and decided to close until

they could get it repaired.

It was taking longer than they had

originally anticipated.

In January, they called, left a voicemail,

sent me a text AND an email to let

me know they were still not ready

and to make other arrangements.

I've been staying at the MUCH more

expensive Hampton Inn.

I've had to use my extra points to

bring the room rate down to something

my company will approve.

But I'm nearly out of points.

Good thing LaQuinta said they would

be open by February!

Except that when I drove down there

and pulled into the parking lot,

it was DARK and EMPTY and

CLOSED.

Luckily they had ONE room left at

the Hampton Inn. The lights by the

bed don't work, I had to use the

flashlight on my phone.

And it was $250! (A discount

from $309 because of the lights.)

(Required a 9:30 pm phone call to

my supervisor to get approval...)

The next morning I jumped online

and discovered that EVERYONE in

the area was booked solid.

No reason, except it is Florida

and WINTER everywhere else.

I managed to find a room 10 miles

away in another town at a

Motel 6.

Remember when Motel 6 charged

$6 / night?

Ha!

I'm pretty sure this is the same room,

but now it's $109.

But that beats $309!

And it was clean.

So I was ok.

Called LaQuinta on Monday to voice

my displeasure. Which is big for me!

I don't do stuff like that.

They said, Sorry.

Oh, by the way, we'll be closed

through March.

So I found another room at Motel 6

in Lantana for the next weekend.

And FINALLY got one at Studio 6

in West Palm for March.

Sheesh.

Then this weekend, the A/C in our

classroom died.

It was having challenges last month

but they PROMISED they got it fixed.

In fact, Saturday morning it was too cold.

And then it died.

It went up to 85 Sunday afternoon.

We couldn't take it anymore.

So we moved our chairs downstairs

to the "lobby" which is open-air but at

least it is in the shade and cooler.

It was still hot, but at least 

there was a breeze!

We were done with the material we

had to learn and were just doing review

anyway... (prepping for our final exam

at 7 pm) so they were happy enough

playing student driven HangMan.

LOL

And then we headed back upstairs

where it had dropped by a balmy 82.

And they almost all passed.

But BOY I hope they actually FIX

the A/C before March!

Cuz it's Florida.

And it's only going to get hotter.

Kudos to my students for

hanging in there though!

Introducing Beau

And then there were four.

It happened again.

I went out of town to teach a class

and came home to another

NEW DOG!

An elderly couple in our old ward

got Beau about a year ago,

but the husband is suffering from

Alzheimer's and has been steadily

declining and sadly they felt they

couldn't handle having the dog anymore.

He has certainly been well loved.

He has more clothes and toys than I do!

And then sent it ALL home with him.

We will be doing some "weeding".

Kyle loves Bullies.

He really wants an English Bulldog.

Beau is French.

But when he came around the

corner and Kyle saw his smile,

his heart just melted.

Truly love at first sight.

So, yes.

We have a fourth dog.

The other dogs are ok with him

for the most part.

Except when he gets hot he

breaths REALLY loud and

it sounds a bit like he is growling.

So Bandit is afraid of him.

But they will get it figured out.

For now he is staying inside with me,

He is well house trained and although

he NEVER responds to his name,

he DOES listen when I tell him No.

(He thinks I'm insane...)

I do not allow dogs in my bedroom.

Period.

He learned that this morning.

I'm pretty insistent.

LOL

And now he stands quietly in

the doorway and waits for me.

And so far he hasn't been on our

new couch. But if he tries, he will

learn that's another thing that

causes that weird lady to go nuts again.

hahahahaha

So far, so good.

He is learning that cows are fun to

sniff noses with,

horses should be avoided (or the lady

freaks out AGAIN),

chickens are fun to chase (but not

to catch, they peck),

and the donkey next door is easily

the strangest sounding thing he has

EVER encountered in his life.

Turning another city dog into a farm dog.

Always fun.

Welcome Beau.

Good luck....

Catching Up

Yesterday was a busy day.

Today was supposed to be too...

but...

Yesterday I got a LOT accomplished.

1. Fed the animals

2. Dragged the pasture

3. Came inside and did a 30 minute workout

4. Cooked and ate my fried eggs & okra

5. Called the hotel and got a "resolution".

(see note)

6. Called the doctor to get a thyroid refill.

7. Called the other hotel for a better receipt.

8. Mowed the front and middle yards

(only my 2nd time - I'm not good at it yet,

it took an HOUR! LOL)

9. Colored my hair (roots) and showered.

10. Drove to Aldi's to return the little

convention / toaster oven I bought,

but turns out I don't actually like.

11. Drove to WalMart to return the two

bras I bought but don't like and buy

some groceries.

12. Home again to make a sprouted bread

turkey and spinach sandwich for lunch.

13. Wash and deliver the eggs

for this week (20 dozen) while listening

to my Trim Healthy Mama podcast.

14. Fed the animals and cleaned out the

duck pond and refilled it with fresh water.

15. Finished typing Chapter 5.

16. Ate dinner (Kyle cooked - steak and

potatoes and mixed veggies)

Whew!

This morning I started out feeding the animals.

Then it was such a beautiful morning with a 

lovely breeze blowing, I sat in a chair and

listened to music while drinking a "collagen tea".

My "office".

Eventually I went into the house and

changed into workout clothes and did another

30 minute workout.

Ate my fried eggs and okra.

Called the doctor's office to find out the status

of my thyroid refill.

It was a 90 day refill - they called it in 

and it was denied because it was already

requested on Feb 5, which was too early,

so it was on hold.

???????????????

Nobody knows who initiated the 2/5 refill request,

but it definitely wasn't ME!

Jumped in the car to retry CVS.

Yes, they could fill it for me now.

It would be $41.

????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!???????

41 AMERICAN DOLLARS?

For generic thyroid meds???

No chance.

Drove to Walmart to switch my

prescription over there.

Their cash price is $10 for 90 days.

Sheesh.

However, my doctor's computer system

was down (I worked there for 17+ years

and I can SOOO relate!)

I wandered around the store while on

hold, trying to get my refill taken care of.

Bought some cashew milk and heavy cream.

And a new shirt for Kyle.

And some workout capris for me.

And a t-shirt.

And a pizza.

LOL

Oh, and another bra. hahahaha

(Rod has a meeting in Vero Beach tonight

and needs something quick and easy...)

I got there at 1:00.

I left at 2:15 without any meds.

Came home to make another sandwich

and sit on the couch and watch a sappy

Hallmark movie.

And now I'm at my table, getting ready

to do today's typing.

And just got an email that my drugs are there.

So...  I'll type for awhile, then walk 

next door to get paid for this week's eggs,

and then I guess I'll make another trip

into town to WalMart.

Oh, and I'm putting some beef soup bones

in my pressure cooker to make some

good quality beef stock.

Wish me luck.

* I guess I'll tell the hotel story tomorrow.

This is already WAAAAAY too long.

And I'm still a little ticked.

Oh Yes I Did!

Kyle has this tractor.

He loves it.

He uses it for EVERYTHING.

And NOBODY gets to drive it

except him.

(unless STRICTLY supervised.)

hahahaha

He loves it.

But it's also not fully paid for yet.

However.

The other night we needed to unload

his big flatbed trailer in order to

go get a load of hay in the morning.

Rod wasn't home.

And once you lift the boom (arms)

the driver's door won't open.

So he couldn't do this job by himself.

(A VERY rare thing, indeed!)

Which meant he needed help.

And I was the only other human available.

(I'm sure he considered all other options.)

So, yup!

I got to "drive" the tractor!

(He turned it WAAAAAY down to

"turtle" mode... he has seen me drive.)

He kept an eye on me.

It's pretty fancy.

I was pretty terrified.

(This is the view from inside...)

(No idea what is going on outside

cuz the arms and forks are kind of

in the way... but he was in charge

and it was all good.)

Nobody died.

Including the tractor.

And the trailer was successfully unloaded.

SCORE!

42 DAYS LEFT!!!!!

Counting Down and Staying Busy

I'm SOOO EXCITED!

Can you tell?

LOL

About what, you might ask?

I'm going to TUCSON!

YEA!!!!!

(Thanks again Nanc!)

This is hanging on my fridge.

So all the people in my home will

remember that I'm going to be GONE

between 3/27 and 4/10.

(Kyle's reaction was

"We are going to STARVE TO DEATH.")

This is hanging in my bathroom to remind

ME that I have (currently) 43 days til I leave!

YEA!

And this is how I am filling my time

between now and then.

The laptop on the left holds the town's

comprehensive plan,

the laptop on the right is where I am 

re-typing the whole thing.

All 212 pages.

It's taking longer than I anticipated.

But they are paying me well.

So it's all good!

43 DAYS!

Weekend Fun

We HAD other plans...

but yesterday Brock (neighbor)

suggested we could get round hay rolls

for $25 less than what we are paying

locally from a guy up in Ocala.

But "somebody" needed to go up

and get them.

Ever the patsy (hahaha)

I volunteered us.

(I did check with Kyle first...)

Anyhow,

this morning we loaded up and

headed north.

It was a beautiful day with a lovely

clear blue sky.

We enjoy driving long distances 

together - well Kyle and I do.

Poor Rod always volunteers to sit

in the back seat, but Kyle's truck

has a "sort of" back seat, not like our 

black truck with 4 doors and 

a REAL back seat...

We had made arrangements to meet

the guy's "guy" between 1 and 2.

We got there a little early, about

12:30, called and left messages 

and then sat on the trailer on the side

of the road in the shade of a beautiful

oak tree with a lovely breeze blowing

and visited (and watched the cranky old

nosy neighbor watch us out his window).

1:00 came and went.

1:30 came and went.

2:00 came and went.

We decided to wait until 2:30 and then leave.

Brock said "well if there are keys in the

tractor, just load up and leave the $ under the seat".

Ok, YOU do that!

Trespassing and "stealing" hay is something

most folks would feel pretty justified in

shooting us over.

(US included!)

So, at 2:15 I was VERY pleased to see

a pickup truck heading our way

with a VERY apologetic gentleman driving.

We got in the gate,

checked out the quality of the hay

(not prime, but not terrible for cows)

and decided that 12 rolls was good

for a first try.

Not only were we (ok, ME) unsure about

loading more than that on the trailer,

(Kyle was totally confident for more)

but I wasn't sure Brock was going to love

the quality.  The more I looked at it,

the less in love with I was.

Our cows are pretty picky and they wouldn't

likely eat all of it.

And wasting a third of the roll is like paying

full price for a roll they WILL eat,

plus then I don't have to figure out what to

do with all that hay piling up out there

they refuse to eat.

(which is already a problem for us...)

Brock's cows will eat ANYTHING,

including ALL the palm trees in the

entire pasture!

And since he feeds 2 round rolls

every week (and we buy 1 roll about

every 3 weeks or so)

I decided to go ahead and get these

for him and let him decide if he

wants to do this again.

(and he can figure out how to get

them next time...)

Anyhow...

it was a BEAUTIFUL day.

A nice drive.

Good company.

I got to eat a sandwich at my very first

Wawa (a gas station if you don't have

those out there...)

and we did get some hay.

Nice cow pasture.

Making sure the load is secure.

Kyle loves to be up high!

And a tree I've never seen before.

Those are little bundles of seeds / berries?

There were several in the pasture.

Pretty sky too!

All in all, a nice Saturday,

and as usual, never a dull moment

around here!

A Day In the Life of a Bull Calf

Our friend (and Kyle's employer)

Linda has two little bull calves.

You might remember their birth

right around Thanksgiving this last year.

Dusty and Caesar are both cute

as can be and growing well.

Caesar is very gentle and sweet,

laid back and happy to have people around.

Dusty, on the other hand, is just like

his mother.  Shy, skittish, NOT happy

to be around people or to be touched.

Today was the day they got to be

"de-bulled".  Dusty got into the

squeeze chute with a little encouragement

from his buddy Kyle, while his Mom

looked on anxiously.

Clayton (the vet's assistant in the pinkish

shirt) manned the controls on the squeeze

with Linda (in the flowered top) watching

carefully.  We NEVER anticipate doing this

ourselves, but this vet is awesome about 

talking us through and teaching as she goes.

When you have little bitty calves, you

have to squeeze the chute down pretty tight.

It helps to be a skinny girl vet!

He cooperated like a champ though.

And of course Caesar was just as good.

It was over in a minute and they were

both reunited with their moms and

the whole family headed out to the

green grass pasture to have a snack.

The vet gave the entire herd a nod at 

their great condition and mentioned the

little boys were getting great nutrition

and had a nice little fat pad built up.

All in a day's work on a little cattle farm.

Falcon Heavy Successful!

Today was THE DAY.

The Space Coast (our nickname)

has been all abuzz about the latest

SpaceX launch scheduled for today.

It was supposed to go at 1:30.

I decided to view it from the beach.

A beautiful day to be there!

I found a secluded spot in the sand,

laid out my bed sheet on a little ridge

and listened to a new book while

watching the people and birds.

About 12:45 I started walking north.

You can see the launch pad in the distance

when you are headed that way.

(the above picture is looking south...)

At 1:00 I heard they had scrubbed the 

1:05 and were now shooting for the 3:05

launch window.

Having already spent quite some time

in the intense Florida beach sun,

I wandered back to my spot,

collected my blanket and shoes,

walked back to my car and deposited

more quarters

and then walked across the street to 

Wendy's for a salad and soda.

And again with the delay.

They said they were now going to 3:45.

But all the space nerds said it was

going to likely be tomorrow.

So I headed back to my little

spot on the beach and enjoyed 

a little more of the sun.

(Since I'd already paid for my parking spot)

Spread my sheet and continued listening

to my book, while checking in with the

Space-X facebook page now and again

for updates.

Looking north there were lots of people

enjoying the beautiful day and waiting

to hear if the launch was going to go.

However, I decided I'd had enough sun.

So about 3:30 I headed home.

Giving me enough time to GET home

and watch it from my yard on the

off chance it decided to go.

And, of course, it did!

I didn't get any pictures of the actual shot.

To be honest, I was too busy watching

with my eyes instead of my camera.

Fingers crossed.

Everyone (including Elon Musk) was worried

whether this thing would actually fly.

But fly it DID!

And then they topped it off by

landing TWO rocket boosters,

side-by-side back on the ground!

So now the space nerds and newsmen

are all busy making horrible puns

about the red roadster heading into space.

Along the lines of

"Did you SEE that Car-go???"

Insert maniacal laughter.

We here on the Space Coast take

our space flights (and stupid jokes

about it) VERY seriously.

WAY TO GO SPACE-X!

Space Nerds

The space nerds here in Florida

are in seventh heaven

(hahahaha see what I did there?)

(heaven - space)

(hahahahaha)

Anyway.

Last week we had a Spacex Launch.

Of course it was LIVE on our local news.

And then, of course, 

there was the whole Full Moon Trifecta thing.

Full moon

Blue moon

Blood moon

Partial eclipse

(which you kind of had to be on the 

other side of the country to see)

And this week is the long awaited

Spacex Heavy launch.

Tomorrow at 1:30.

Alarms and reminders have been set.

Fingers have been crossed.

Countdown has begun.

Good Luck Spacex!

Whirl Wind Trip!!!

Not me.

Sondra and the girls.

They flew in Thursday afternoon.

They had a GREAT tail wind and arrived

30 minutes EARLY!

They were scheduled to land at 3:56.

I was scheduled to arrive at 3:52.

They texted at 3:11 and said they were HERE!

LOL

Once I arrived and they found me,

we headed EAST to the OCEAN!

YEA!  Warm ocean water!

(warm compared to the ocean in California...

I think it's FREEZING!)

We had a great time walking down the beach

Gathering shells and taking selfies...

 Then we headed back to Ron Jons

(a really BIG surf shop)

The girls got some shirts and a hat

and suddenly Uncle Rod and Kyle were 

standing right there!

A fun surprise!

We walked next door to a fun little

burrito shop and had a yummy dinner

and a great time talking and laughing.

The food was really good and the shop was fun!

They even took our picture!

The guys headed back to the farm and the girls

headed over the swamp to Orlando to our hotel.

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Which I didn't take any pictures of.

LOL

Ocean air really takes it out of you

(as does flying across the country)

and we were planning to get up early

so we headed to bed and got a good night's sleep.

Up Friday morning and down to the snack bar

to grab a day starter and then we WALKED

down a beautiful path over to Universal Studios

to spend the day at Harry Potter World.

It was like walking into the movie!

Every detail was perfect!

We started the day in Olivander's Wand Shop.

Sydney got picked to play Harry Potter

in the opening scene!

It was really cool!

(But also SUPER dark and not good for photos...)

And then we tried out a bazillion wands to

find exactly the RIGHT wand for each of us.

They were all beautiful.

And very magical!

Then it was off to Gringott's Bank

to ride through the caves and fight

dragons.  

Sondra promises to send me her pictures,

but they are on a plane right now....

It was a GREAT ride.

We found the Leaky Cauldron

and had a yummy English lunch.

Sondra and Zoe had Bangors and Mash.

I had Toad in the Hole

and Sydney had Brunswick Stew.

It was delicious and "stick to your ribs"

kind of food!

Then off to ride the Hogwarts train!

The telephone actually connected you to

the Ministry of Magic!

We even walked through the wall at gate 9 3/4!

Everything was so perfect!

The train station.

Waiting for the train to arrive.

(Sondra got us express passes, so we actually

didn't have to wait in ANY lines the whole day!)

We rode the train over to Hogwarts.

And even that was a ride!

There was something to see the entire time!

And then there it was!

The famous Hogwarts Castle.

Where we learned to ride a BROOM!

and we even played Quiddich!  

What a FUN ride!

As close to a roller coaster as I can do...

we dangled, feet free, and swooped up and down

and even upside down!

Laughed and screamed and had a blast!

The girls kept us hopping the whole time.

They are SUCH FUN!

Here they drew quite a crowd...

We were finished with the Wizzarding

World of Harry Potter

and moved on to Jurrasic Park.

Another family favorite movie...

This is what the rest of the world saw.

There was much

"move left, one more step, now toward me,

now a little more, not so much, now forward... etc"

And this is what the lucky FEW saw.

She is one brave girl!!!!

The whole park kept the themes so well.

It was really amazing!

And through it all everyone had a wonderful time.

We ended the day at a fancy 

"San Francisco Pier" restaurant for 

delicious SF sour dough bread,

yummy burgers and Syd had a 

delicious big bowl of Chinese noodles.

Then we walked back to the hotel,

hung out by the pool for a bit

(but a COLD wind started to blow, so the

girls hung out in the hot tub and Soni and I

wrapped up in towels and chatted pool side...)

Then back to our room to change

and down to the lobby to visit,

people watch and drink hot chocolates.

We FELL into bed and slept like rocks!

And this morning, after packing up,

a quick trip to McDonalds

and a short drive to the airport,

they were up up and away.

Heading back home for Zoe's 16th birthday party.

This afternoon!

Hahahahahaha

BUSY LIVES these women live!

All in all, it was super fun, super fast,

super jam packed with laughter and visiting

and catching up and making memories!

I miss them already!!!!!