'Nuf Talk 'Bout the Weather

Just read Jil's blog about how it rained and rained there. . .but it was needed elsewhere to help rectify their loss of electric power due to the water table being down.
I am going to digress:
We have a big backyard or I should say, common area, that our house, Bob's and several others share. I can remember when the house was just built in 1980, my kids throwing a frisbee out on the dirt, which eventually became the lovely place of weeds that it is now. It's green, tho. I understand in the summer it's really really green. And it has some beautiful fruit and ornamental trees.
Now back to the subject area:
It rained and rained. Poured, actually. . .the night before last. When we got up in the morning, the pups had to be taken out. I had forgotten the joys of that, having had a cat for the past 13 years. There's something about a litter box that is very nice. We used an umbrella, but of course they couldn't. When we came inside, they needed to be dried off. We had a little "river' of water in a drainage area across from us. Of course, Gracie didn't stop before getting there and was soaked more than usually expected. Towels came very handy. Also I never knew that there was standing water in the middle of the yard. It disappeared, but not soon enough.
We have set up a "playpen" of a little more than 3 X 6. They're both fast asleep in the sunlight that comes in from the window wall that faces the west. They are touching heads. Looks like they'll both miss each other when it's time to say goodbye.
Time to cook dinner.
I wish I could update some more pictures, but it doesn't seem to be happening. Oh, well. I tried.
That's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods. What's happenin in yours?

Getting back into routine is easier said than done when there's a little puppy in the house. She's a little character. Yesterday she had a "playdate" with Brenda's little male puppy, Bode, that Brenda's picking up on Spring break when she and Emma come from California. It was rough and tumble time. Marian, Bob's friend, is taking care of him, and brought him for the visit, but we'll be taking over that job when she and Bob go camping tomorrow. Should be an interesting couple of days. They're both scheduled for a couple of shots at the vets and it coincides with Bob and Marian's camping trip.

Now that it's the end of March, lots of friends are leaving for places up north. Not us. We're not leaving til the first of May because we're going on a short four-day cruise the end of April. We're starting to have good weather now. I feel sorry for those leaving now, as the winter weather has not be ideal here in Florida. Til now. Friend Carol is leaving in a couple of days. We've planned a pool time this afternoon here. She's headed for upstate New York. . .traveling via the auto train in Sanford, Fl. to Washington D.C. area.

I can hear sounds outside that tell me brother Bob has set up his miter saw on the grass outside of his lanaii. He's taking the sliding glass door down and replacing it with a wall, between his bedroom and the lanaii, just like Paul has done with ours. FYI Bob's condo is kitty-corner to ours in the back. It is the same floorplan as ours, but reversed.

Gracie is taking a nap right now in her playpen, so I'm free to type. We're trying to get her used to it. Paul set up in the lanaii. She whined, tore up her puppy pad, and dumped the water out. I cleaned it up. She has separation anxiety. After setting the timer for a half hour, she finally fell asleep. Good!

Big day for Lue. She's picking out her puppy today which she'll be getting in May. She called last night to see how our puppy was doing. So . . . She has the choice of a young puppy, or one that is a year old (a teenager, she said.) We're thinking of her today as she makes that decision. She said Ruth and she had a good trip back on Monday evening. They arrived home around 12:30 AM Tuesday morning. Tired, of course. Their visit was much too short, but we enjoyed their stay. . .

So - I imagine you'll get tired of hearing a lot about Gracie, but that's what we've been doing in our neck o' the woods. What's happenin' in yours?

Trying to get back to normal?

Trying to get back to normal. Whatever that is. We've been so busy lately, that I haven't really had the time to blog. . .except to let you all know about Gracie. She's doing fine. Paul is amazed at how fast she's "learning the ropes." Bob says it's the breed of dog. (I myself think she's obviously a genius.) She's asleep on the couch here in the computer room, wanting to be near us at all times.

Our refrigerator is making odd noises - vibrating different from usual. Paul checked out the warranty. It had a one-year warranty for service. When did we buy it? Last year, March 19th. Today is the 24th. Oops. Too late. Should we just get used to the noise? (don't think so.)
Everything is staying cold or frozen, depending on the part it's in. Good.

We had a nice visit with Lue and Ruth - (The Sisters.) Ruth read in the Sunday papers that the Ringling Museum had a display of Rockwell art, so we went to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota for the day. The weather did not cooperate. It poured! Which was unfortunate because the area is 53 square acres of land - with four or five buildings, rose gardens, etc. Luckily, they had a tram service to take you to all around the campus. The trams, which had plastic side curtains to keep out the pouring rain, held 8 people. Unfortunately, two of them were not working right and were out of commission. So there were long waits. We had lunch there at the Banyan cafe. Just as the name suggests, the cafe was near the banyan trees.
Even tho Paul and I have been to the Ringling Mansion, Museum, etc. several times, each time we go we learn more. This time was not an exception! We enjoyed it as much as ever.
Bob and Marian came later for a steak dinner that Paul cooked outside on the gas grill. Marian brought a delicious pineapple upside-down cake. The rain had stopped by then. It's amazing how much ground water we could see.
Well, I'm due for a hair appointment so that, for the moment, is all that's happenin' in this neck o' the woods. What's happenin' in yours?

Meet Gracie

Okay. First one is out of focus. Rest are pretty good. (in focus). I have no idea what she's gnawing on in the third picture.

The last picture is a huge statue of the W.W. II photo of a sailor in Times Square, NYC,.

This is at the waterfront in Sarasota. You can kind of see how big it is - by how small the people are on the right.

This was put on my blog erroneously. But still interesting.

Amazing Grace

We've had company from upstate New York these past couple of days. Lue and Ruth. They call themselves "The Sisters" because they've been best friends for umteen years. Nice visit.

It has been very busy and it's hard to believe that I haven't written since March 9th. My goodness.

Company deserves treats that we don't usually get for ourselves and we enjoy getting these foods for these special occasions. Raisin Bread. Yum.

Sunday morning I toasted some for myself. Paul came up behind me and put his arm around my shoulder. I figured. . .Did he want my toast? Nope. He said to me. . .That Monday (yesterday, my birthday. . .a special one: entering a new decade) I should pick out a little papillon puppy. I had been wanting one for ages and ages, but we're a team and I didn't think it would be fair to Paul if I was the only one wanting one.



So yesterday, Bob, Marian (she's a papillon breeder herself, but didn't have any at this time), went up to St. Petersburg, where Marian's friend had two litters of Papillons. Brenda, Paul's daughter, had a male puppy "ordered" from there that Marian was training for her. She is to pick up, Bode, (after Bode Miller the out-of-control- skiier.) when she comes for Easter/Spring Break week. So - we knew that Marian's friend in St. Petersburg, had two litters. (Where Bode came from originally. . .three weeks ago).



We picked out Gracie. She is 9 weeks old. From a different litter than Bode, and younger by two weeks. A ball of fur. Reminds me of a very very miniature Panda cub. Same face markings with almost all white body. She weighs less than 2 pounds, I'm sure. We got home last night around 11:00, in Ella's pet carrier that we let Gracie inherit, and she has already adopted it in less than 24 hours as her puppy-security-cave.

I think I mentioned before in this blog about cousin Alice summer/off-season business which is watching houses down here when the Snowbirds leave for their northern homes. With a check list, she goes through each house very thoroughly and sends e-mails to us. . .such as around mid-summer and the rainy season when everything grows and grows and grows with enormous speed. "Just want you to be aware. . .(or something like this) The pretty committee has deemed grounds around some houses need weeds pulled, so some of you can expect a letter in the mail." Or "Everything looks good." Or she can be more specific and relay info that is just for "your ears." She's very good at it and we appreciate it. Paul and I are newbys to her list, and she asked us if we would be interested in, instead of payment, doing a bit of bartering. So, instead of accumulating a bill for her services, she would think about some things she needed done around the house, and when we came down in January, she would discuss it with us. (actually Paul. I'm not that accomplished. If at all.) So. . .
Alice sat down with Paul and wanted to know if he could build her some cabinets/computer desk/bookshelves in her spare third bedroom. I bet you know where all this is going. . .

This morning he's delivering the wall unit to her house. Our carport has been his workshop for several weeks. No one, who knows Paul, can be surprised at how beautiful it has become. In the beginning, Paul spent days (and nights when he'd wake up) just thinking about ideas for this project. Then he began putting his ideas down on paper. He met with Alice, several times, of course, to see if her ideas and his coincided. Then we window shopped for materials - my one lone service to this project - noting which ones "looked cheap" or those that were good but expensive, or those that were "just right." Reminded me of the Three Bears. Then. . .Back to Alice. And on to making the ideas into reality.

I walked over there this morning to see the progress - and there's no doubt about it. The job was a reminder to me of my husband's talent. And his pleasure in doing such things.
There's probably more happenin' in this neck o the woods, that I could write about . . .but I'm closing. . .What's happening in your neighborhood?

Weather is turning gosh-darn beautiful down here. . . 'Bout time.
Today started cool, but warmed up as the day progressed. . .which was good since Paul and I went down to the Art Show on Venice Avenue in downtown Venice street of shops. I wore a jacket in the beginning, but as we walked, I tied it around my waist. They put barricades at each end of the street, closing it off to cars and allowing only foot-traffic. We had to park way over by the Venice Little Theater even though we got there around 10:00 when the show opened. All the parking lots and surrounding streets were completely full by then. The vendors' tents were up and down the street. We did a lot of window-shopping, but didn't see anything. I went with the mind-set that if I saw something truly wonderful that I couldn't live without, and had a specific place in mind for it, that I would get it. (So I saved myself a lot of money. Things were gorgeous, but expensive. )
Last night was our first performance of Showtime, and it went quite well. There were the usual small errors, but nothing was really bad. We had a good time which is all that counts.
Lizzy Borden went well. Our lead performer has been coming here to practicing with me a lot. And I mean a lot. She came this afternoon to practice again. She practiced yesterday. She practiced the day before that. She deserves a pat on the back for improving so much. And trying so hard!
Tonight there'll be two - Paul and Carol - in the audience and with me for the after-glow pizza party for cast in the Club house. That'll be fun. Fattening. . .but fun.
The Oscars are tomorrow night. After seeing Avatar, I feel we have a reason to watch. Hope it wins several. It should. Of course, not Best Actor or Actress. . .but set design, things like that.
So - that's what's been happenin' around here. What's been happening in your neck o' the woods?

Perhaps you noticed.

Perhaps you noticed. Perhaps you didn't. My daughter did and wrote me. I appreciated that. I feel I need to post a retraction of something I wrote and didn't edit correctly.
Case in point: I have said that there are times when a situation occurs where it's almost impossible to correct or change things. Then I try to "let it go" by thinking. It is what it is. That is. the. complete. thought. It is what it is. Not: It is what it is. Don't expect much. Wow. It sounded very depressing!
Yesterday I wrote about accompanying a lady for a Showtime act. About her problem remembering the lyrics of the song: I wrote: It is what it is. Don't expect much. I meant. . ."It is what it is." And that was it. When I wrote, don't expect much. . . I was talking about that single situation. But, besides that. . .That sounded pretty awful. I had kind of given up on her which wasn't nice of me to do, and I felt badly that I did. Update on that: I'm happy to report, I spoke in error. Yesterday afternoon she called me, and we practiced. At least 20 times. Maybe more. She made great gains. She is trying. She's coming this afternoon again to practice more. Dress rehearsal is this evening at 6:00. Bless her heart. I hope she has a voice left.
So that's what's happenin' in this neck o' the woods. What's happenin' in yours?

L.B., 3D, wait and see

Did you notice my title rhymes?
They say our "cold spell" will be ending the end part of this week. Wait and see.
Seems like I've just been busy this week doing the usual and sending out e-mails. Life has a tendency to jump out at you when you least expect it. Showtime is this weekend. Our lead singer in Lizzy Borden (L.B.) has stage fright and she can't remember the lyrics. It's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy and I'm wondering how this will end up at the show. I guess my favorite saying may be in order: It is what it is. Don't expect much.
Don't know if I mentioned in a previous blog, and I'm too lazy to reread, but we finally were able to go last night to see Avatar in 3D at the local movie theater. We'd gone last week and they were busy getting two theaters updated with 3D projectors and weren't showing Avatar til last Friday. All I can say is. . . wow. If you can go see it, DO.
Went with Bob and Marian to the early 6:00 show. 3D has come a long way from the 60's with their visual effects. I felt like I could actually reach out and touch. If you saw Avatar at a regular theater and have the opportunity to see it again in 3D. Do. I would see it again. It was that good. We went out for ice cream afterwards and had to sit outside because they were closing. I nearly froze. This is the Florida we know and love? But I will say again. . .I'd much rather be down here and not up in the snowy northlands.
That's all the news from here, folks. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?