Friday, August 28, 2015
Wow it's been a long time since I posted! I must have been more tired from the big surprise party than I thought! Anyway, we've not done too much since then. Besides the regular piano lessons, docenting, prayer services and spending some time on the boat, we did make a quick trip to Charlotte to see our best friends Phyllis and Bobby. It's always fun to get together with them, and their menagerie-2 dogs, 5 chickens and numerous koi! Marina and Skipper always enjoy visitng. The biggest part of the trip though was getting the amazing quilt that Phyllis made for me. She used tee shirts I had gathered from past travels-I didn't wear them but couldn't imagine throwing them out! She did a beautiful job, especially since she said it was the most boring thing she ever did! A true labor of love.
We are watching tropical storm Erica to see if she is coming our way. Looks like we might get some rain early next week but no big deal.
Happy Birthday tomorrow to my sister Carol. It's a big one but I'll never tell which one!
My awesome quilt!!
Oliver and Phyllis
This chicken was very interested in my phone!
Keely gets along well with the chicks!
Beautiful koi
Skipper went crazy when these deer meandered into our yard
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Whew-every entry I have made for the past 2 months has been stressful, as we have been planning a surprise party for Mary for that long and I didn't want to be the one to accidentally spill the beans! But we did it! 26 people traveled to Grand Rapids for her birthday party and she was totally surprised. Jana and Bob arrived first, calling her from the taxi on Thursday night to say they were dropping in for a visit. They do this frequently so she was pleased but it didn't raise any suspicions. Oliver and I, and Nick and nancy arrived late Thursday night so on friday morning, while Bob and Jana took mary to a drs. appointment, we all sneaked into the house and when she came home, there we were sitting at the table with Carol, Ashley, David and the little boys, having breakfast! She acted like she could hardly believe her eyes. At about 2:30 that afternoon, 4 little voices shouted "surprise!" as Libby, Dave, Erin and Molly, and Sarah, Norah and Laine arrived. She was truly stunned by now. We had lunch and then took the little girls back to the hotel for swimming and to allow Mary to recover from the shock of a houseful of company. We all met at Tom and Carol's house for pizza and had a great time chatting and watching the 6 little ones (all under the age of 8) playing with each other. It was a late night but we had such fun. Bunny, John, little John, Spencer and Whit arrived in Gradn Rapids late Friday night so when we all met for breakfast at Mary's on Saturday morning, we were still having to keep a big secret. Thank goodness they all came in at about 10:30 and our surprise was complete! Hillary and Aaron had gotten in at midnight but she had been told they were coming. Aaron and Nick played golf on Saturday, Sarah and Libby went shopping, I enjoyed playing outside with the little girls and we all met for pictures at the Crowned Plaza at 5PM followed by cocktails and appetizers, then dinner and then birthday cake in a private room. It was so much fun! After Mary, Carol, Tom, Jana and Bob went home, the rest of us (including the little girls) stayed in the bar and enjoyed talking until almost 11PM. Oliver and I, and all the Craig-Davenport families had a 6:30 AM flight so we dragged ourselves up at 4AM and got to the airport, boarded our plan---only to find out there was a mechanical issue and we all got back off and sat until they could fly a part in form Minneapolis. Finally took off at 10:30 and Oliver and I barely made a flight to Savannah. Then we had to rush to the kennel to pick up Marina and Skipper but we were home by 4:30. All in all, it was an amazing week-end, filled with laughter and a few tears. Can't wait for the next family reunion-probably at a wedding in the not so distant future we hope! Here are a few pictures of the week-end.
Erin and Laine enjoyed climbing the tree.
A little gypsy moth!
Carol, David, Sarah, libby and Nick, with Sully looking on
Sarah and cousin Alex
Oliver and Mary
A lot of people were at Carol and Tom's!
Some of the crowd at Mary's
Oliver fell asleep and Laine built a Lego house on his shoe!
Norah, Laine, Erin and Molly in the bar-you're never too young, I guess!
Mary and Carol at the party
The birthday cake
Great Grandma and Sully
Menfolk! John, Tom, Nick, Aaron and little John
Erin, John and Laine closing up the bar!!
Thursday, August 6, 2015
I might have mentioned before how much I HATE sago palms! Oliver keeps cutting them back and they just grow back even bigger and faster than before. So I have been taking pictures of one of them and you can see how it grew in just one week!
Thursday, July 30, 2015
It remains VERYhot down here-the pool temp is back up to 90!! I swim 40 or so laps a day and I'm almost hot by the time I finish! My piano is driving me crazy this week. I'm studying diminished 7th chords and they make absolutely no sense to me AND Idon't like the songs so it's a real chore to practice. I whined a bit to my teacher today and she offered to help me tomorrow but I think I'll keep plugging away and deal with it at my lesson Monday.
Yesterday we took the boat out and had a nice 3 1/2 cruise. We went all the way past Hilton Head and out to the ocean! Oliver wanted to test all the electronics and turned out the auto pilot is not calibrated correctly. So today he and the guy from the boat yard went out again and turns out the flux gate compass needs to be moved. Hopefully that will be done next week. It has been a steep learning curve for both of us with this boat. We are so used to having big powerful twin diesels, and of course there are no tides or currents to deal with in Lake Michigan. Now we have a single diesel, 7 foot tides and 2 kt currents that figure into our docking, so it is pretty challenging. We have to either bow in or stern in, depending upon which way the current is running, so Oliver will get a lot of practice at both docking manuevers. So far we haven't had wind added to the package but that's just a matter of time!
There are some really pretty houses along the river.
This is the Naval Hospital. Beaufort Memorial is also located right on the water and they have a dock so you can pull right up in an emergency.
Parris Island
The ocean dead ahead!
Coming back under the Port Royal bridge
These pelicans have turned the green can white!
Monday, July 27, 2015
We went to church yesterday (my Daddy's birthday) and came home to change clothes before going down to the marina for the air show, which closed the Water Festival. As Oliver was untying the port side of the boat, so that I could get on, Mark Sanford, the former Governor of South Carolina and our current Congressman, came down the dock to tell Oliver he loved the boat, asked what kind it is and is it a planing hull. They had some stunt pilots, some skydivers, and a Coast Guard helicoptor demonstrating sea rescues. It was a beautiful day-hot and sunny but with a slight breeze and we had cheese and crackers on the boat before we came home for grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. I had a piano lesson today and as always, enjoyed my time with my teacher. We play for an hour but chat and laugh for another half hour! Tomorrow is hair cut day and visiting my neighbor for her fall clothing show.
Saturday, July 25, 2014
The party's over!
Everybody was gone by 10AM on Wednesday morning and we were exhausted but sad to see them go! We just had an awesome time with everybody and the time flew by. Can't wait for next year's vacation!
Wednesday afternoon we went down to the marina to take a few things to the boat and it was beautiful when we got there but a HUGE storm popped up. I've never seen such streaks of lightning and the thunder just rolled on and on. We were dry on the oat but the poor crafters had to close up their tents and I'm sure they still got wet. It was short-lived but wicked.
Thursday I had prayer service at the nursing home and then Friday I was docent at church so I was really, really tired! I did get several loads of wash done but haven't even ventured upstairs to start making beds and cleaning bathrooms-not that much cleaning is required-my guests were VERY tidy! This morning we walked the dogs and then went down to the marina. Water Festival has been going on since last week-end and today was a big day-all day dragonboat races, and the big parade. We were lucky enough to get the LAST parking spot in the reserved lot for boaters-forunately we took the truck so were able to drive right up over a sidewalk! I bought quite a few things at the arts and crafts show and then we went up and watched the parade for a while. They had a lot of floats and a couple of marching groups-not many bands tho. We watched the dragonboats for a while before going to Luther's for beer (and I had a shrimp burger), and then watched a really good trio of girls singing on the main stage. We sat on the boat for a while and then got so sleepy we had to come home! Oliver took a nap while I swam 30 laps -had to work off that shrimp burger! Eearlt to be tonight as we have to be at church early tomorrow-I am greeting and Oliver is ushering. We'll go back to the boat tomorrow as there is an air show from 2-5. Summer is fun!
Even the local bail bondsman had a float in the parade!
There were several military units but this was one of my favorites
This group provides service dogs for veterans
There were dozens of dragonboats. This is a fundraiser for cancer. Different groups get teams together. Evene our Publix store had a team!
Lots of the teams wear costumes
Monday, July 20, 2015
What a busy week we have had! Finally our boat was "released" from the boat yard. Unfortunately it was on Friday morning, the day that Bunny and John, Alex and Whit and Spencer were coming. Oliver and I went over to the marina to drop off my car just as Bunny texted that they were on their way and Alex texted that they were 45 minutes away. I gave them the garage code and we went to the boat yard and after a few minutes of orientation (for me, as I hadn't been on the boat) we cast off and made the 3 mile trip to our slip. It will take some getting used to-after many years of twin screw boats, Oliver has to get used to a single screw and it is way different. But we got into our slip and tied up and then I took him back to pick up his truck and I came home. Alex and Whit were already here-and in the pool-and Bunny and John had just pulled in! We had a light lunch and then spent the afternoon in the pool before a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, corn on the cob and home made nutella ice cream! We stayed up quite late because John R and Bennett didn't arrive until 11 PM-they both had to work all day. On Saturday we had breakfast and then hit the pool for the day until it was time to clean up for dinner. We went into town and stopped by the boat-although we had left the keys in the truck so we couldn't go IN the boat, and then we walked around the arts and crafts show. Water Festival started Friday night so it was very busy on the waterfront. I bought two cute pillows for the boat and I thought I was buying a wreath for my front door but it turned out that Bunny bought it for me! She bought a frozen mojito mix which we are going to have tomorrow. Then we went to Luther's for drinks before our reservation at Old Bull Tavern for dinner. We had a great time and when we came home, the boys spent some time in the pool. Yesterday we were all up early for church-I was so proud to introduce my family to our priests and took Bunny up to the choir loft to meet my piano teacher. After church we went to the country club for brunch-it was excellent. Then the afternoon in the pool before a big thunderstorm came up. The kids sat on the porch and had a hotly contested game of Spades before we had a dinner of pork tenderloin, baked beans, twice baked potatoes and cherry chocolate pie. The boys all swam again after dinner. Today we slept in a bit-except for me, as Marina needs her medicine between 6 and 6:30 AM. After breakfast we took a walk and Whit and Bennett took a golf cart ride and then came and picked up Alex and Porter and brought them home. Everyone went to the pool until lunch time and then again afterwards before another card game. We all cleaned up and went for an excellent dinner at Breakwater. Just got home and everyone went for a swim and now off to bed. Tomorrow they are all going to the beach while Oliver and I go get shrimp at the seafood market for a Low Country boil tomorrow night. We might stop by the arts and crafts show again tomorrow afternoon. I hate to think of them leaving Wednesday-the time has flown by!!
Here we are bringing the boat from the yard.
Approaching the bridge
Several dolphins followed us but it's almost impossible to get a picture
Approaching the marina
Speak Easy tied up in her slip!
Pool time!
Night time swimming
The dogs are getting along great
Card game during the thunderstorm on Sunday
Lunch on Monday
Pre-dinner card game
John took a little nap in the pool
Here's the beautiful wreath Bunny bought me
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
After two months in the boat yard and numerous launch dates coming and going, this morning we were driving to the grocery store and what did we see in the water! Speak Easy!!!! They told Oliver yesterday they were going to launch it today but we didn't believe them, as they also told us that for about the past 5 days. The electronics guy had to take it out to calibrate the compass and check that all the instruments were working so we guess that's what was going on. They just need to compound and wax the top (non-painted) part of the boat and we will be set free! Or, we will be set free AFTER we settle our bill! We gave up trying to keep track of what we were spending so this will be a total surprise to us. Art this point, we don't care though. We hope that tomorrow we will be able to take her up the river to her slip. Stay tuned.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Two weeks since I posted and now I can't remember what has happened. Much of it has been the same old same old-we go to church on Sunday after we get up early to walk the dogs and that takes up most of the day. On Thursdays I go to Summit Place for the prayer service and sometimes have lunch afterwards with my friend Justine. Oliver works in the yard a lot-we have been doing more planting and he has mulched and put pine straw around all the beds. He also spends part of each day at the boat yard checking on the daily work. We are hoping that they finish this week although they aren't working Friday, so it may take it into next week. My piano lessons are going well although today I had to miss for a doctor's appointment. Last week I found a teeny tiny tick on my hip and he was pretty attached. I removed him but still have a round red spot-not really the rash they talk about for Lyme disease but I called and they wanted me to come in. Said that the only real way to determine was to wait for symptoms to develop so he suggested that I start on antibiotics and then won't have to worry about it. Lyme isn't too common here in South Carolina but better to be safe than sorry, I guess.
John and Jeannette came up for Father's Day and took us out to lunch. It was really hot but we found a nice shady spot at Luther's, one of our favorite outdoor restaurants and had a nice meal. They had other obligations that day but wanted to see Oliver so we appreciated their visit.
This week we are taking my car in for it's first oil change and hopefully find time to paint a room at church. They can't find the paint for it so I went to the paint store today and had them mix a sample that we think is close but now we have to test it out and then hopefully be ready to go. We also went over to the home of a young navy family that has joined our church-he is stationed in Norfolk and she is here with 2 kids and had a ceiling fan that needed to be installed. Oliver was going to do it but there is some strange wiring going on and he recommended that she get an electrician. Our neighbor is a contractor and he gave me the name of someone for her. They have a few more projects for Oliver at the church, I think.
We're looking forward to Bunny and John and the family coming for a visit on July 17! I've made reservations at a couple of restaurants-one for Saturday night which is Alex's birthday! We have so much fun when they are here-hope all goes well this year with no dogs running away!
The instrument guy is having to make a special box for our chartplotter
Oliver and the kids at Father's Day lunch
Monday, June 15, 2015
Just a couple more picturesof the boat, as it inches ever closer to being done!!
Friday, June 12, 2015
A couple of major hurdles reached this week! Oliver finally tore out the two huge sago palms that were taking over the front of our house. These plants are just nasty-they grow really fast and they produce offshoots and keep getting bigger and BIGGER! He had to cut all the branches off and then tie a rope around the stump and use his truck to pullit out. Then he had to take a pick ax and chop the root below the ground and they go DEEP. They have all these little potato-sized spores so we think that probably it's going to try to grow again! Here are pictures of him taking it out.
This one was cut down to NO branches two weeks ago! You can practically see these things grow!!
Secondly, the boat got painted!! yay! Now they just have to put on the bottom paint, install the new electronics which were delivered to the yard on Tuesday, and repair a few minor chips in the deck.
Monday, June 8, 2015
We've been pretty busy since I last posted. Last Monday we took the dogs in for grooming. I was a little worried about how Marina would do but the groomer said she was just fine-calm and cooperative. On Wednesday we took her to Charleston to have the holtermonitor out on. She did much better with it than she did last time-of course, then she was quite sick although we didn't know it. We took her to our vet here on Thursday morning to have it removed. She seems to feel pretty good. This morning she walked for over 2o minutes before wanting to get in her stroller. On Friday I did my hospital visits for the church. Oliver was at the boat almost every day. He's getting a bit frustrated with the boat yard-they seem to be VERRY slow getting things done. He went over on Saturday and they had it on the lift and were sandblasting the bottom so they are getting ready to do the bottom painting. The instruments should arrive today so hopefilly they will get the hull painted soon so they can install the instruments. then there will just be a few odds and ends to finish before we can finally get it in the water! Have to go practice my ppiano now, as I have a lesson this afternoon.
Here's poor Marina in her monitor
Oliver left the door to his workshop opne for a few minutes and a bird built a nest in his shoe!
Friday, May 29, 2015
We've had a busy week. Oliver has spent lots of time at the boat,talking with the boat yard guy about what needs to be done AND cleaning the inside thoroughly. He scrbbed the head, the kitchen and wiped down all the wood. I would have done all that but only after it was in the water and the ac was running! We have decided that besides the bottom paint and the hull painting, we are going to put all new electronics on-these days, boat electronics go out of date in about 3 years! Then, once all the work is doen and it is in the water, the Yanmar mechanic will come and change the oil and all hoses and inspect the engine before we move it to our slip. So no telling when it will actually be ready for boating but Oliver is having fun with it!
We had Marina at the vet on Tuesday for a bad limp she has picked up. The vet couldn't find anything obvious so we are watching and trying to rest it and tomorrow will start her on some pain medicine to see if that helps. She goes back to the cardiologist on Tuesday.
My piano teacher is back at work so I had a long lesson last night and have new assignments to work on. Yesterday was my day at the nursing home prayer service and today was my hospital visitation day. Tomorrow Oliver is going to help the other guys in the neighborhood spread straw around all the beds while I grocery shop so it will be a busy week-end.
Tonight we finally visited a local legend-The Fillin Station. It is a dive that you wouldn't even think of going into unless you knew about it! It reminds us of The Jib Room in the Bahamas because they serve just one thing on any night. Tonight was steak night-a rib eye steak, corn and baked potato. Quite adequate and only $10!!! They also have crab leg night, hamburger/hot dog night ($3), and pork chop night ($5). We parked about 3 blocks away because I didn't want my car in the VERY crowded parking lot. We went at 4PM and had our choice of seats and enjoyed a few beers before dinner. The people who came at 5:10 were searching for places to sit!
Here's what it looks like
Thursday, May 21, 2015
This is not actually ON the boat yet-it is superimposed by the art designer.
Monday, May 18, 2015
We are officially boat owners again! The boat arrived at the yard this morning and Oliver went right over and started taking stuff off. The owners didn't remove anything-there are towels and sheets (including custom made sheets for the unique shape of the mattress) and blankets, silverware, dishes and cups and an expensive set of Magma stainless steel nesting pots and pans, cleaning supplies, cruising guides and I don't even know what all-including lots of things I had to throw away. It's now empty so we will be able to give it a thorough cleaning before re-loading things! The lady who is going to put the name on met us there and did measurements and we looked at colors but now we are torn between /the style and color we want. Tomorrow the yard will start on the bottom paint and the man that owns the yard really thinks we don't need to paint the hull-he's pretty sure that a thorough buffing and polishing will be sufficient-unless we want to spend a whole bunch of money, he says!! Of course we WILL spend a bunch of money but anything that we can avoid is a good thing.
Tomorrow I am filling in as docent for someone and visiting my piano teacher, who is home from the hospital but still not feeling well. On Wednesday I get my hair cut and we will have dinner out for Oliver's birthday. Thursday I am the prayer leader at Summit Place and then Friday our next door neighbors from St. Simons Island are coming to have lunch with us, so it is a busy week.
Here are a couple pictures of the boat, right after it arrived.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Things are definitely better than they were a week ago! Marina is doing well. She takes her pills easily now that we give them to her in pill pockets before breakfast and dinner. Of course, that means I get up at 6AM for the morning pills so that she can eat again at 6PM. She also gets up at 2AM to go outside because of her diuretic so I am kind of tired-but happy she is doing well. I talked to her cardiologist yesterday and we are going to do another 24 hour holter monitor test. When the results from the first test came back, it showed that she is having arrhythmias - the worst was at 3AM so wasn'trelated to exercise. It may have been because she was going into heart failure and may be gone now that she is well controlled on her mediciane, but if she IS still having them, then she needs to start another drug so in a couple of weeks we'll get her back to Charleston to have the monitor be put on and then will have it removed here 24 hours later. She is enjoying going for walks with us again although she can't walk for the entire hour so she now has her own hot rod and ashe really likes riding in it! I think she likes looking down on Skipper while he has to walk!
The boat deal finally got closed and it is supposed to be picked up in Vermont on Friday and delivered to the boat yard here on Monday. We have a local artist who is going to put the new name on after the yard paints the hull and the bottom. We hope that it will finally be in the water in another couple of weeks! It's so hot here already that we will enjoy getting out on the water a bit.
My piano teacher has been in the hospital since Sunday with a sinus infection and bronchitis so I didn't have a lesson last Monday and probably won't next Monday. Makes it a bit harder to practice when I don't have the pressure of an upcoming lesson!
Oliver is out working on his fence-whenever he gets bored, he adds a few feet to the fence! I am going out to swim a bit and then we are going into town for dinner someplace.
Here's Marina's new ride!
Why are you walking, Skipper? I guess Mom likes me best!
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Re-reading my last entry, I never could have guessed that things were going to turn bad so quickly. At about 2:30 AM Sunday morning, Marina woke me up with her pacing and panting. I got up and watched her for a few minutes and checker her gums, which were very pale, and immediately called Chareston Vet Referral Center where her cardiologist practices. They told us to bring her right in so we left at 3AM and we were there a little before 4:30. They took her right back and after a short time the emergency doctor came and told us that they had taken a chest xray and she had a lot of fluid so they started a diuretic IV and out her into an oxygen crate and said she was in congestive heart failure. Obviously she was admitted and after we paid half of the very large estimate for her treatment, we came home and still had time to shower and go to church, followed by a lovely brunch with our Foyer Group at the Cat Island CC. We spent the rest of the afternoon calling every so often to find out that she was slowly improving. Monday morning our cardiologist called and said she was out of the oxygen and might be able to come home by afternoon. But she called back about 1 and said that Marina's respiration rate was too high and she wanted to keep her another night. Tuesday morning though she called and said Marina had a great night and we could come pick her up. It was so good to see her looking so well, if a little tired and with hair missing where she was shaved for the EKG leads and the IV. The doctor spent quite a while giving us the discharge instructions. Marina is now on 4 different pills-3 for her heart and one diuretic-that she takes twice a day. This is not as easy as it sounds. She will NOT let us open her mouth to poke them down her throat, unless we catch her totally unaware, and the first day she took them easily in a little meatball of dog food but today was having none of that. So I pput them in pill pocket-a little treat that has a hole in the top and you put the pills in it and squeeze it shut. She took it all right-but then dropped it on the floor and picked up all the pieces that DIDN'T have pill in them and left the rest. So Oliver had to pry her mouth open a bit while I spooned the pills into her mouth and then held it shut and she had to swallow. Tonight we're trying a new plan-I bought some fresh ground meat and we will see if that won't be so enticing that she won't notice the pills! Next thing we will try is crushing them and putting them in applesauce.The problem is that we need to know which ones she takes and which she doesn't so we will have to try them one at a time. She refuses to even touch her dried kibble so we have bought 5 different kinds of canned food, I have boiled some chicken breast and will give her that with brown rice if she won't eat enough canned food. At this point, the vet is primarily interested in getting pills and food down her so that is our goal!
We were supposed to go to North Carolina for Oliver's great-niece's wedding but when I asked the vet about boarding her, she said that was not a good idea so soon. Oliver didn't want to go alone unless he came back the same day and I didn't want him to do that because it's a 6 hour drive one way. So he called his sister and told her why we couldn't come. I know for non-dog people, it sounds terrible to miss a people event because your dog is sick, but we didn't have a choice. We are going to try to find someone around here who is trained with animals and would come stay in the house if we go away but that will likely take some time.
Our next issue is with the boat. All of our paperwork is ready for the closing but there have been problems on the seller side. Firstly, it was discovered that the title had one number wrong on it-it didn't match the hull number of the boat. So after about 5 days, they finally got that fixed. Now, it turns out that the title has one name on it and the power of attorney, which the seller's broker has to sign the papers, has a different name! It appears that one of the couple uses her middle name and THAT is what's on the title but the POA has her first name and middle initial on it! We are pissed beyond all measure about this-having just sold our house, we KNOW that you need to have everything in perfect order if you want to close a deal. We are close to telling them they can keep their boat and starting the search all over again. Waiting for our dealer to call us and see what magic he can work.
So besides all that, not much going on here! Oliver spent all day Saturday working at the vicarage with another guy from church. Although the hoouse was just built in 1988, apparently there is LOTS of repair work that needs to be done and getting someone from the church to do it saves a lot of money. And of course, Oliver likes that kind of thing any way. Monday he will go with me to my piano lesson because Pat has a problem with the damper on her fireplace and he will see what he needs to do to fix it. I had to miss my lesson Monday and haven't practiced much so we'll see how THAT goes!!!! Marina goes to our vet here on Tuesday to have a blood drawn to check her kidney function and to get her blood pressure checked.
Thanks for listening to all my troubles! Next entry should be more upbeat!!
Saturday, May 2, 2015
We've had a busy week! It started with my piano lesson on Monday which lasted an hour and a half and resulted in a BIG assignment for this week-I think I have 7 songs to play including a Bach and a Verdi piece. Then on Wednesday we closedon the Port Washington house!! It was certainly a nice feeling to be done with it. The people who bought it live just a few miles up the road but wanted their 5 year old twins-a boy and a girl-to start scool in the Port Washington school district. They will be happy when they learn what wonderful neighbors they will have.
On Thursday we took Marina to Charleston to the specialty vet clinic there. She saw the dentist first who said she really needs her teeth cleaned but wanted her to see the cardiologist first and also wanted an abdominal ultrasound because her liver enzymes were elevated. The cardiologist wanted an echocardiogram and found that her heart has gotten a little worse since November. She thought there might be infection so she did a urinalysisi and blood work but decided that wasn't the case. The ultrasound also was negative. They wanted to do a 24 hour EKG so she was sent home with a holter monitor attached and antibiotics for her mouth. She was really miserable for 24 hours and yesterday we took her to our regular vet to have it removed and found she was terribly chafed on her tummy and under her arms where the leads were attached. She jad one of her episodes while attached, though, which is what the vet was hoping to see. After the EKG is read, she will be started on heart medications and then in a month she should be able to return and have her teeth cleaned. We feel fortunate to have this clinic close enough to utilize. It is like the Mayo Clinic for animals! We had our own coordinator who guided her from one department and test to the the next and made sure all the doctors talked to us as soon as possible. We hope we will get her feeling as good as possible.
Yesterday I substituted for one of our docents at church and in the "it's a small world' category, meta couple from Maine who know a lot of the same people we do at the Sabre factory and also our boat dealer in New Jersey. The man used to work for Cummins Diesel and Sabre was one of his biggest accounts! We had a great time talking boats. After I was done, Oliver came to pick me up and we walked over to the park where Taste of Beaufort was set to start at 6PM. We stopped at our favorite bar for a couple fo drinks, then walked around the arts and crafts show before sampling a few "tastes" It was a beautiful evening so we enjoyed ourselves verymuch.
And speaking of boats, we heard that the closing papers for our boat will arrive on Monday!! We will sign and return so hopefully the boat will be on it's way to usshortly. We have to go to North Carolina next Friday for a wedding so we HOPE it doesn't come that day! It will be delivered to a boat yard here and have some work done before it gets splashed.
Here;s poor Marina in her holter monitor
We discovered we have a pomegranate tree in our yard! Oliver liked it so much that he planted a second one!
Scenes from Taste of Beaufort
Friday, April 24, 2015
We haven't really done too much since we got back from Vermont. I was too tired to go to the organ concert at church last Friday but we did make it to church on Sunday. On Monday I had my piano lesson, which went very well. I had steeled myself to tell Pat that I wasn't going to play in the recital next month and she said she wouldn't try to force me--good thing since I am about 5 inches taller than she is and twice as mean! But then she told me it was going to be held at one of our nursing homes so that the residents could come hear everybody play. Well, I have a huge soft spot in my heart for very old people so I am going to try to find time to learn a couple of songs to play. But this week's lesson is pretty hard-I seem to have a hard time with syncopation-so not sure I will be able to work it in.
Wednesday I went to a new hair stylist for a color and cut and so far I really like it. Not very different but just a more precision cut with a bit more layering so we will see how it goes. I also went to the vet to get a "Cone of Shame" for Skipper. He had allergies back in January but they went away. Last week though he started scratching and has a hot spot on his leg and the underside of his chin was bleeding! He hates the cone-although we are able to turn it back into a collar instead of a cone-but it has helped. he is also on antihistamines and it looks like there isless pollen so I hope he is over the worst of it.
Oliver went with me to the prayer service at Summit Hill yesterday because we had some errands to run afterwards. He also went with me to the organ concert today and then we had a nice outdoor lunch at Luther's. The weather has been beautiful and it's supposed to be in the mid 80s this week-end so hopefully I will be swimming by Sunday!
Next week is a busy one-we hope that we will close on the boat. Our broker went back to the seller's broker on Monday and asked for a few more dollars off the selling price based on our survey. The big thing is we think we need to repaint the hull. To our surprise, the seller agreed so we are ready to go to closing. The transport company is already lined up and yesterday Oliver went to the boatyard here to talk with them about taking delivery of it and then launching it and we all agreed that it makes sense to do the bottom painting and hull paint before putting it in the water. we hope in a couple of weeks we will have her in the slip we've been paying for these past two months!!
Here's poor Skipper in his Bozo collar
And here;s the boat-currently named Miss Rose but after the appropriate re-naming ceremony, to be called Speak Easy. That because the model of the boat is Rum Runner!
Friday, April 17, 2015
We are back from a really great trip to Vermont! We left Monday afternoon and got to LaGuardia at about 7:30 with a couple of hours layover. We hadn't been to LGA for many years and what a nice surprise! They have very little seating bat their gates-instead, in the middle, they have tables, high tops and bar seating and at every single place there is an iPad which you use to order drinks, food, even newspapers or gifts from the shops. you swipe your credit card and within 15 minutes, everything is delivered to you! We had drinks and a good dinner and we were very relaxed by the time we boarded our flight to Burlington. Arrived at 11 PPM and got our rental car and we were ayt our hotel within 15 minutes.
On Tuesday morning, our very frist stop was the world's tallest filing cabinet! This little "gem" is the 18th most popular attraction (out of 60) in Burlington. I found out that it was constructed by a guy who was disgruntled about a planned bypass that never occurred. He added a cabinet for every ,month that it was on the planning board-38 months in all! A lady came by and offered to take our pictures together-too funny!! I brought a magnet from South Carolina-I expected there to be hundreds of these but no! Perhaps I started a trend!
After all that excitement, we drove to the marina on Lake Champlain where the boats was and met the broker. The views of Lake Champlain were just really amazing and we imagine it must be stunning in the summertime.
We were really worried about seeing the boat-we hoped that we would either REALLY like it or REALLY not like it. We didn't want to be ambivalent about it. Turns out we really like it! It is 11 years old so there are a few repairs we will make but the structure and engine are in great shape. We couldn't sea trial it, as there is ice on the lake, but it was last sea trialed in October and everything was fine. We spent time with the Yanmar mechanic who trialed it then and got the survey report and all was perfect. So we proceeded with the surveyor who was coming on Wednesday and he went over everything again woth a fine toothed comb and said we could sleep well, knowing it was a really good boat. It will be delivered here by the end of the month or early next month and we will have the bottom painted before launching.
Here's the ice still on the lake.
On the way back from the marina, we decided to stop at the Vermont Teddy Bear factory-primarily because we had to go to the bathroom! But it turned out to be a fun stop!
We kept seeing these whale tails sticking up and I finally got on the internet and found out that many years ago, a whale skeleton was discovered near here and now the whale is the state fossil!
We ate lunch at an exceletnseafood restaurant in dowtown Burlington, overlooking the ferry dock, and then decided we'd go to Ben and Jerry's flagship store for ice cream. Little did we know that it was Free cone day and the line was a block long! We decided to skip the ice cream.
After a nap-which we NEVER do! - we found a great place for dinner and had somelocal beer and great pizza before stopping by the grocery store for a couple of things and getting a great sunset picture!
On our way to meet the surveyor on Wednesday, we took a couple of pictures of interesting things we had seen. The first is a huge jack made out of fire hydrants!
Then we stopped for a picture of this giant dog. Not sure what it's made of or why it's there but it is on the property of a car dealer.
Since we had the afternoon left, we decided to drive up to Stowe and look around. It's a cute-but typical-little mountain ski town so we didn't spend too much time there but did have lunch at a really good little restaurant. Then we stopped at the Ben and Jerry's factory for a tour and our long-awaited ice cream!
We were too full to have dinner so we just snacked a bit before going to bed early. Yesterday we had a leisurely breakfast before tiurning in our rental car and getting to the airport more than 2 hours early. I took this cute picture of my little guy with the U. of Vermont mascot.
Then the fun REALLY started! We are sitting at the gate when they call "passenger Miller"-NEVER a good thing. So Oliver goes up to the desk and they tell him the flight is oversold by 2 and he and this lady are the 2 who aren't going to get on! We of course get just a bit upset, especially when they tell us the next flight out of Burlington that they can get him on is MONDAY!! No way was I leaving him so after they finished boarding , they asked me if I was going to go and I said no, give my seat to this other woman. They were going to give me $600 in travel vouchers for doing this but we wanted to go home! So then the gate agent gets on the plane and when he comes back, he says there is one no-show, so they have 2 seats. I take my seat BACK from the lady, who was very gracious about it and says she will take their offer of a taxi ride to Boston (like a 3 1/2 hour taxi ride!!!). They print out our boarding passes and just then a guy comes running up with a boarding pass-the no-show! They tell him he is too late and he goes ballistic-how can I be too late when you are still boarding? The gate agent tells us to board (quick) and we do and they close the door with this guy still going nuts! Got to LaGuardia in time to enjoy another lunch right at the gate and got into Savannah early-which allowed us to pick up the dogs last night instead of this morning. All in all, just a great trip! I'll post pictures of the boat later.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Our visit with Fred and Renee went so fast! They came Tuesday afternoon and the weather was just perfect so we sat by the pool while Fred and Oliver steamed and ate a whole bunch of oysters, and later we had a low country boil on the porch and sat out until midnight talking. Yesterday we took a long walk with the dogs, then went into town-toured our church, looked at our boat slip, then had lunch outside at Luther's before coming home to sit by the pool again. Last night we went to old Bull Tavern for dinner and then back home for cake. They left this morning around 10AM and we were sorry to see them go!
Easter was beautiful at our church. Masses of flowers everywhere, all the choirs, the brass quartet and at our service-one of 4 that day-there were 900 people! We had a quiet afternoon and a traditional ham dinner. Tomorrow I'll go the organ concert at noon and then docent from 1-4. Saturday is the big air show at the Marine Corps Air Station, Sunday we are greeters at church and then Monday afternoon we leave for Vermont. Busy week here for us.
Here are Fred and Renee on the "visitor's bench" downtown
And Oliver and Fred
Renee and Fred at the marina
Look at my beautiful hibiscus!!
Our beautiful church dressed for Easter!
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Well, as some of you pointed out to me the other day, my Fall/Winter page had disappeared. Turns out that when I tried to update following our night out on the town, I made a mistake and didn't save the page! Fortunately my long time web host, Tiptopwebsite, was able to restore it all for me. They are so fantastic to work with-they've rescused me before AND they do special deals with me so that my 1000 picture limit is now 3000! But I thought it might be wise to start a new Spring/Summer page!
We've been pretty busy this week. It finally is close enough to spring in Vermont that we can go take a look at the boat we think we want to buy. We will fly up there week after next, and take a look at it. Then we have a surveyor and a Yanmar mechanic on stand-by to come see it the next day if we decide to move ahead and we have a boat hauler on standby to bring it to Beaufort around the end of April. We HOPE we like it and don't have to start the search all over again! I'm excited even more because Vermont is one of only THREE states I haven't visited-the others being New Mexico and Arkansas. So not only will I see the boat but I will check off another bucket list item. While there we plan to visit the world's tallest filing cabinet! I bought a South Carolina magnet to put on it-don't know if this is a thing people do but if not---they should and I will start it! I'll be sure to take PLENTY of pictures!
Tomorrow we will go to Good Friday services and of course Easter service on Sunday morning. It is an amazing, beautiful and joyous service at our church, with millions of lilies, the brass quartet, all our choirs, and the decorating of the cross.This morning we had a Maundy Thursday service at Summit Place. I love Holy Week. Also had my piano lesson-a really good one that both my teacher and I enjoyed, and have finally moved on from Chopin but now am playing some Puccini and Mozart. I finally feel that I am playing real music-but my teacher is VERY set on me playing at the recital in May and I am just as set on NOT playing so we will see!
Next week our great friends Fred and Renee are coming to visit and we are beside ourselves with excitement. Oliver and I worked with Fred for many years at Wyeth-I think I have known Fred for 30 years or so. They spent a week with us in the Bahamas when we were on the Loop and I think we have only seen them once since then. So we can't wait!
Here's a picture of a rescue Welsh Terrier flying to his foster home through the auspices of Iris and John Fox, who are amazing benefactors of ALL dogs, but especially WTs. Note the cute Mutt Muffs to keep his ears safe.
I'm really glad that Skipper likes to sleep on his Dad's side of the bed!
