Update

 Just a quick update,

we decided to hold off and drive out

on Monday instead of today.

It's a long story,

but I promise I'll update later.

We are eating some dinner

and heading to bed.

Land sakes!!!

It looked like this for WAAAAAY too long.

It's better now,

but still not completely empty.

This was about 3/4 full.

We still filled it up more...

but I forgot to take a picture.

We got it all loaded,

ate some lunch,

and headed to the beach to relax for an hour.

I promise, I'll write it all later.

Where's Buddy

 I got home from Tampa and Kyle and I

took the dog for a walk in the woods.

(I wanted to go to the beach, but 

it was getting late and chilly...)

Anyhow, as soon as we got back from the

woods we got a call that the people we

gave Buddy to went out to give him dinner

and the gate was open and he was gone.

(He LOVES an open gate...)

So Kyle and I jumped in his car and

drove up and down the roads in their

neighborhood.

I was 99% sure I found his trail

leading into the woods,

but it was getting dark,

my flashlight was getting dim,

and we've had a LOT of rain lately,

so chances were good it was

going to be swampy in there.

(Plus, you know, snakes and stuff.)

So we went home.

Pat put him on our local Nextdoor,

and we hoped for the best.

As I suspected, he had wandered into the woods,

spent the night, and then in the morning came

back out again (on the other side) and

ended up in someone's front yard.

Rod and I hooked up the stock trailer and

headed over to where he was hanging out

and took him back to his new home.

Then we gave them a CHAIN and lock to

keep him in his new pasture.

He has a nice big pasture.

They have 3 other horses, but they are taking it slow

getting them acquainted.

He's going to do fine.

Painting

 Kyle has taken over the task of re-painting

the two bedrooms.

He started with Jim's - otherwise known as

my Zoom Room.

Jim chose to have it painted Yamaha Blue

18 years ago when we moved in.

It was VERY bright.

But he liked it.

And when I started teaching in there, 

it was the perfect background for my zoom.

But I doubt anybody else on planet Earth would love it.

So Kyle took it back to white.

But first... a little graffiti!

He loves his garden gnomes.

Oh the MESS!!!

In keeping with tradition, he included the inscription

"Jim Was Here".

When we moved from the Palm Bay house,

Jim wrote that on his bedroom wall.

Unfortunately, he wrote it with a blue ballpoint pen.

NOTHING covers blue ballpoint pen.

Not Kilz.

Not OIL based paint.

Not 15 coats of oil based paint.

I finally had to paint over it with a dark colored paint

and then paint over THAT with a gazillion coats of white.

Thanks Jim.

You will live FOREVER on that wall.

This blue "only" took 3 coats.

And if you look, there's still the hint of blue peaking through.

Then it was on to his bedroom.

His room was originally Shrek green.

But luckily he grew out of that and painted

one wall this beautiful shade of sage green,

and the other walls a lovely grey.

He sent me this picture over the weekend,

so I'm sure by now his room is all white as well.

I'm so grateful for all his help!

I'm not a big fan of painting,

and we will have PLENTY to do once we move.

Buddy

 I am just finishing up my VERY LAST LIVE CLASS!!!

It has been a great class, but when I thanked

them for being a terrific final class,

I choked up. So I left it alone.

I'll still be doing zoom from the "town" house,

at least for a couple of months until we

see how that works out...

but this is the last class in the classroom.

While I have been out of town,

Rod delivered Buddy, our last horse,

to some friends from the ward who have

a couple of senior horses already.

Buddy is 35+ years old.

He hasn't been ridden in 4 or 5 years.

His back-end is a little wobbly.

But other than that, and the fact that he

has no grinder molars in the back,

he is in good shape.

(Well, a little skinny and SUPER

sway-backed... but he's OLD.)

He still gallops from the back pasture all

the way up to the barn if we call him

for dinner.

We've had him for 20 years.

He came as a "book end" with my horse Andy.

We bought him because he was the same breed

(Florida Cracker) as my first horse, Joey.

Rod rode him quite often for awhile,

and he was a great horse when we had friends

come who wanted to ride.

Short, gentle, fun.

(He LOVED water and you had to be 

intentional when you rode him through or

he would give you BOTH a bath...)

Rod said he did well in the trailer,

stood by him in the pasture at the new place

for about 10 minutes, and then wandered off

to check out the new digs and the

neighboring pony.

They will take great care of him for

the remainder of his years.

Bye Buddy. You've been a wonderful horse.

Now... there's just the chickens.

And they go tomorrow.

Roxy

 We had a dog named Roxy for about 5+ years.

Jim's boss at the car dealership brought her in

to work and told Jim he "had" to take her to his

parents farm... so he did.

She was a sweet little dog.

She LOVES to play fetch.

Shadow (Kyle's old dog) kept the pack in line.

Anybody messed with Roxy (the smallest)

Shadow took care of it.

But then Shadow passed.

And Bandit became the new pack leader.

And she doesn't really like Roxy.

But it wasn't a big problem...

And then Kyle got Luna.

The Rotti.

She LOVES Roxy!

She's a SQUEAKY TOY!

When you grab her, she squeaks!!!

It's SOOOO fun!!!

Poor Rox.

She would run back into the garage and get

into her crate and refuse to come out as

long as the other dogs were out.

So... we decided it might be a good idea to

try to find her a new home.

I've been trying for a long time.

(Luna just had her 1st birthday.,,.)

But this week a student from 2 classes ago reached

out and said he and his wife were interested in Roxy.

After some back and forth, we decided it would

likely be a good fit.

So yesterday when I drove over to Tampa to

teach my final class, I had an extra passenger.

I covered the seat with a blanket.

(Grandma Hanna tied this one for me... but the

dogs got into it and tore some of it, so it's theirs now...)

We put a leash on her and tied it to the seatbelt.

She was a good little passenger.

Even shared some french fries with me.

And when we got here, she got to meet Robert

and his dog Heidi.

Heidi is a puppy and VERY high energy and Rox

was a little spooked, but we put her in her

crate in the back seat so she felt safe,

and off they went.

Robert sent me some pictures when he got home.

Roxy and her new mom Jenna hit it off immediately!

And once Heidi settled down, they became

best buds.

I'm so happy it turned out so well.

Night Relief Society

 The meeting formally known as Homemaking.

Or whatever they are calling it these days...

We had a good turnout (for us) on Tuesday evening.

My activities chair is pregnant and REALLY sick

so she kind of forgot until the last minute.

And then when I got there I found out the only

other committee member is also pregnant!

Don't drink the water in Palm Bay!

We had some stuff leftover from Super Saturday.

So they threw together a quick activity of

painting the covers of Book of Mormons.

All the cool kids are doing it these days.

Of course I forgot to take pictures until lots of people

were done and getting ready to leave.

I think we had 14 sisters.

They had a good time painting.

All but 2 of them did books.

One brought her own needlework and another

just came to eat and visit,

(And I didn't do one, cuz ... packing!)

They had a good time chatting and painting.

And it was nice to get to say goodbye to 

some of the sisters who work in the other

organizations.

I'll be leaving for Tampa in a couple of hours,

so I'll miss this Sunday and we are

LEAVING next Sunday morning!

So.... that's it for Palm Bay 3rd Ward!

It has been a wonderful ward.

I brought stamps and lots of notecards

so I can send a note to all the sisters in

my presidency and some of my other

special friends.

End of a chapter.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

 Goodness Gracious where does the time go????

It's time for my Mother to have another birthday.

It's a good one.

Double digits.

That's fun!

It has been a busy year for them.

They have spent some time traveling.

And spent lots of time with family.

They moved.

Again.

They celebrated birthdays and anniversaries.

The BIG 70!!!

And through it all, through busy times and bored times,

through visits with family and friends and days

home alone with Dad,

she has always remained the upbeat, cheerful 

woman I have always known her to be.

She has been such an example to all.

I have leaned on her heavily during this year

and a half that I have served as a Relief Society President.

I valued her experience and wisdom in so

many instances when I just was lost.

She has done so much to enrich the lives of those

who are around her, whether they are long time

friends or just friends she hasn't met yet.

I love you Mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

New Windows and Doors!

 I'm pretty sure I mentioned before that when Kyle

went to get his windows for his house he discovered

the size he planned for was only available in Florida!

Who does that???

Anyhow, today we went to THREE different Lowe's

and picked up all the windows and doors he

is going to need for his house.

There were several.

This was the last load from the store 30 miles north of us.

They only had 1 of the largest size in the local store,

but we were able to get all the medium

and small ones there.

The first load we got locally, and discovered they

BARELY fit in the back of the Ranger.

So we had to go to the airport and switch trucks

with Rod. Gave him the Ranger with the little

bitty bed and got the F250 with a much larger bed.

They just barely fit in that truck as well!

We finally got them all purchased and loaded

into the house. Guess we won't be opening

the front door again anytime soon...

Garden GONE

 Our garden was a MESS.

The wood on the raised beds was done.

(Rotting and needed to be replaced this year)

And the dirt had gone back to basically sand.

Needed to all be amended with new compost.

Obviously THAT wasn't going to happen...

So today Kyle and I got out there and using his

skidsteer (Cat) I chained up all the fence posts

and he pulled them out of the ground.

We are taking the posts with us.

We will need to make yards for the dogs

and of course fence in our new gardens...

so posts are going to be a hot commodity.

It definitely makes the yard look bigger!

Then we put down a heavy layer of grass seed.

Hopefully it will come up in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

(They didn't have any winter rye... that stuff comes up

in DAYS!)

And then I went into my office to teach my last 

zoom class for this month 

and Kyle went to the BEACH to watch a rocket.

I took a break so I could go outside and

watch it from the yard.

It was a beautiful one!

He said it was spectacular from the beach...

Anyhow.

Tomorrow we will be back at the packing, etc.

I'm done teaching zoom, so I'll pack up my

teaching stuff and I think we will paint

my office.

Jim had it painted a bright Yamaha Blue,

which was a GREAT background for zooming,

but probably NOT a great color for selling the house.

We bought some white Kilz that will cover

just about ANYTHING (including bright blue).

He wanted to paint it today, but I didn't want

to sit for 4 hours in a freshly painted room.

(And besides, I still needed the blue wall...)

He has a mulching job tomorrow and then we

all have tithing settlement.

And then we will come home and put on our

painting clothes and GET TO IT.

So Many Changes

 On Monday, Rod posted our piano on Facebook.

There are 5 or 6 pianos listed on marketplace for FREE and

about the same number for $250.00

I crossed my fingers and said $350.00.

It's in GREAT shape, (except for that spot on the bench...)

It will need to be tuned after they get it moved,

but I had it tuned about 6 years ago and it

still sounds really good. Holds a tune well.

About 30 minutes later Rod got a message from a member

family from Provo who now live in Kissimmee (over

by Orlando) who wanted to buy it.

(And wanted the Primary book too... lol. NOPE!)

So last night they rented a truck and headed over.

She's a big, heavy girl.

It took Rod, Kyle, Sam and Lucas (the buyers)

to get it up the ramp and into the truck.

Sam said he nearly bought a piano a month or two ago,

but the sale fell through and he forgot about it.

Decided on Monday that maybe he would take another shot.

And there it was!

Rod had JUST posted it!

Wrapped it up in quilts and strapped it down.

We waved goodbye and off they went.

I guess they got home ok.

Lucas was kind of shy,

but looks like he is happy with his new piano!

And now our living room looks MUCH emptier.

(I've already picked out a good electric piano

to have Amazon deliver to me when we get 

to the Walnut House....)

Thanks Nancy!!!

 Look what Nancy found!!!!!

Is that not the CUTEST???

Thanks Nanc!

What a great memory.

Sesame Bird

 Do you remember when Jimmy was a LITTLE guy.

We came to Tucson for a visit and y'all took

us down to Nogales (and I had my first buffalo burger. YUM!)

While there, we saw a piñata in the shape

of Big Bird from Sesame Street.

Jim always called him Sesame Bird.

So... we bought it.

With the plan to have a party when we got

back to Tucson.

And Jim was HORRIFIED!!!!!

We can't BEAT Sesame Bird to get candy!

That's TERRIBLE!

So.....

fast forward 30+ years.

Guess who has been hanging in Jim's closet all his life.

I propped him up in the hall way so I could take a picture.

Then Jim came by, and we had a good laugh.

I asked if he wanted him.

He said he was pretty sure he could now let him go.

Beau was CREEPED out by him and had NO problem

dismembering the scary creature.

It's the end of an era.

Boy Oh Boy!

 It RAINED and RAINED and RAINED.

Some estimates were 6"!

Typically there is NOT a lake in front of the barn.

And very rarely is there a lake on the other side of the yard.

I just realized I don't often take a picture of that side.

There's not much over there.

A pathetic peach tree and another pathetic avocado tree.

And 2 loquat trees that are doing pretty well.

Boy howdy it rained hard though!

Unfortunately that made both of Kyle's mulching jobs

have to reschedule.

Bummer!

But it made for a comfortable day to sit on the couch

and watch all the sessions of General Conference.

There was ZERO temptation to go and do anything else.

They were really good talks.

I can't wait for the printed versions.

I am going to enjoy re-reading these ones!

And I'm glad I don't have to try to only

pick 13 for our Elders Quorum and Relief Society

discussions for the next few months.

It's going to be hard!