Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The biggest news is that I have another great-nephew!  Sullivan Michael Fouch was born on the 11th of March-the little stinker came over a month early-but he and Mom are doing fine and I can't wait to see him this summer.

I see it's been TEN days since I posted anything! I guess I was waiting to take some pictures but haven't found anything picture-worthy so will post just so my readers don't give up on me! We haven't done too much in the past week or so. We've had a few days of beautiful weather and I have been sitting by the pool but the past two days have been rainy, rainy, rainy!! I guess the showers will bring the flowers though, because all our bushes and trees are loaded with buds and ready to bloom! Oliver got a tomato plant yesterday and will get that in the ground today and I might plant a small garden-although I certainly know NOTHING about growing things! But Phyllis is a Master Gardener and maybe will give me a few tips when she is here this week-end.

I continue to work diligently on my piano lessons-this week I am playing When the Saints Go Marching In and You Are My Sunshine. I've had to cut back a bit on my practice, though, as I am having a few pains in my neck and left arm. My teacher says I am too tense when I play-go figure-so tonight I am wearing a short sleeved shirt so that she can watch and help me relax my arms a bit. She says I need to remember that I just started playing a month ago and I am doiung better than she would have expected--but I always want to play perfectly for her and get frustrated when I make mistakes.

We had our last confirmation class on Sunday and will be confirmed by the Bishop this coming Sunday. It's quite amazing to think that all the confirmed members of our church have been confirmed by the Bishop, who was confirmed by 3 other Bishops, who were all confirmed by other Bishops, on and on back to the Archbishop of Canterbury!!  I have a new dress and new patent leather shoes--but no frilly anklets to wear!!

We have lots of company coming this spring-Phyllis this week-end, our friend Alice the first week in April, Mary is coming in the middle of April and Bunny and John the end of April! We're looking forward to it and hoping for good weather. And speaking of spring, my next blog will be on a new page-it's time to switch from Winter 2013!!!! Maybe I'll have some pictures by then! Thanks for stopping by.

 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

We had such a wonderful visit with Bill and Julie! The weather was just terrible but we enjoyed sitting and catching up. We did go for a ride around town on Wednesday afternoon and it cooperated by NOT raining for a bit! That night they treated us to dinner at old Bull Tavern, one of our very favorite restaurants here. Marina was just in loce with Julie and we had a hard time keeping them separated!  They left (Bill and Julie, nut Julie and Marina!) Thursday morning and we heard from them that  evening from Richmond, Kentucky so they should have gotten home yesterday. We;re so happy that they stopped to see us!

Today is going to be a beautiful day, after 3 days of cold gloomy rain. Supposedly it will be sunny and in the 70s all week-we are hoping to go to the beach one day. We have 2 more confirmation classes and dear friend Phyllis will be here on March 23rd for our confirmation. Then our good friend Alice is coming the first week in April for a visit, and Bunny and John will be here later in April. Looks like we made it through winter!!!

Bill and Julie on the visitor's bench! I told Julie I was going to say she had a terrible skin condition and has to wear gloves but....it was just cold!!

Julie trying to pry Marina off

 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

We've had a busy time since we got back from our short trip. Our good frineds Bill and Julie, from Port Washington, are coming next week so we started our spring cleaning a bit early. Oliver has been trimming bushes and burning brush, as well as cleaning the screened porch, while I cleaned the front porch. He had to back his truck into the yard and stand in the bed with a long pole clipper to trim the palm trees but got it done! Yesterday and today I decided that the beautiful chandelier and sconces in my dining room-which were the first things to catch my eye when we looked at the house-were very dusty and in need of washing. Fortunately I could reach most of them from the ground but needed to stand on a ladder for part of it and it was a real pain! They are done though and look beautiful again.

I've spent a lot of time practicing the piano-turns out Jingle Bells was MUCH harder than Ode to Joy! I got a good report last night though and a lot of work to do, since I will miss my lesson next week. It seems to get harder each week but my teacher tells me to not be such a perfectionist!  Today it is raining so we are working inside. Tomorrow night is the annual homeowner's meeting for Tuxedo Park and we're looking forward to getting to know our neighbors better. Then Friday night is the coffee and dessert party at the Rectory and we are definitely looking forward to that. Our Rector gave the most amazing sermon on Sunday. It was about "rights" and he said that we are all so consumed with getting our rights upheld that we are more than willing to trample on the rights of others. He said Jesus was the one person in all of history who had the "right" to glory and honor and yet He gave up his rights for the greater good-namely our salvation. He said as Christians, we might be asked to give up our rights for the Gospel. He also said that our problem as humans is we always want to be the "Noun"  when we really are just the "Adjectives". He's an absolutely awesome speaker and a brilliant person. My piano teacher is the Director of Music of our church and she has known Jeff since he was ordained-she played for his service! She said that he was planning to be a lawyer until he got the calling for the priesthood and that his five children are all brilliant as well. He is a Civil War historian and he and his wife collect antiques so Pat says we will be amazed when we see the Rectory.

Guess I must get back to work. Here are a couple of pictures of my chandelier and sconces-wish it was sunny today as I can't wait to see the sparkle!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Feels like spring is here! We are sitting on the porch having our cocktails-it's been a while since we did this. We just got back this afternoon from a nice although short trip. We drove to Pinehurst, NC on Wednesday to visit with friends Olin and Faye Welsh. Olin hired Oliver in 1968 and they have been friends ever since! They recently moved to a lovely apartment in Pinehurst and we enjoyed talking with them, having cocktails and then they treated us to a delicious dinner in the dining room of their complex. We also enjoyed their sweet little Westie named Peaches-we left Marina and Skipper at the bark n' breakfast so we needed a puppy fix! After more chit chat, we went back to our hotel, which was only 2 miles or so from their apartment. Yesterday morning we drove to Charlotte, arriving around 10:30AM and went to Debbie's apartment. We enjoyed seeing her dog as well-he is a BIG boxer, about 90 pounds, and sweet as can be. Debbie drove us to lunch in her new car, and then to a huge garden shop where I bought 2 very pretty red vases for my mantel. We walked Dude (the dog) and then we all went to Phyllis and Bobby's house. The weather was so beautiful so we sat on their porch for a very lengthy cocktail hour before one of Phyllis's excellent meals-this time baked spaghetti, sald and bread. Debbie went home around 9 and then we all watched the Olympics-a VERY late night, especially since we all get up early. Today was no exception, as Oliver, Phyllis and I met in the kitchen for coffee at 6 AM!! Phyllis had to leave for her volunteer work at hospice so we took our time getting ready but left around 9. If you were watching the weather today, there was a massive cold front that strecthed from the Gulf of Mexico to Montreal and of course we got caught up in it.It rained buckets from the time we left the Ferguson's house until we got to I-95.  It was coming down in torrents as soon as we got on 95, in fact cars were pulling over on the shoulder, so we got off at the first exit and went to Wendy's for lunch. By the time we left...it was STILL raining, although not as hard. Instead of coming home, we went to Bluffton (near Hilton Head) because we saw a fountain that we liked at Home Depot. We picked that up and then headed to Beaufort and picked up our pups, and we were still home by 2:30. We had read some reviews about the fountain and a couple of people wrote how difficult it was to assemble. But of course-they weren't Oliver!! He had it all put together and running within 30 minutes, so we're enjoying the sound as we have our drinks.

My piano lessons are going well-my teacher gives me a "star" every week-she says my preparation is excellent! Hope that will be the case this week, as I have missed a couple days practice. I did spend some time this afternoon so hopefully by Tuesday night I will have Jungle Bells and Are you sleeping Brother John down quite well. I'm playing with TWO hands! We also continue our confirmation class at church. I think we only have 3 more classes and then will be received into the church on March 23. Next Friday night we are invited to the Rectory for coffee and dessert with all our clergy and we're looking forward to that.

Hope everybody is surviving the winter. I am too embarrassed to ask our dear friend and neighbor Bill how it is going-he keeps our driveway cleared and we feel so guilty about it! I keep suggesting that we hire someone-so farhe has said no but this winter may change his mind!

Here is one of our beautiful camillias that have started blooming.

And here are Olin, Faye and Oliver-they haven't changed a bit since 1968!! (Peaches was a bit camera shy!)

 

Here's our new fountain

Saturday, February 8, 2014

We've had a very nice week-both weatherwise and otherwise. Oliver has been working on the fence-the current fence is quite a bit off the property line on one side so he has moved it out almost to the line. Of course, as with all his projects, he comes in every so often dirty and bleeding from somewhere but apparently he is almost done. We had to call Digger's Hotline , so the electric company and phone company were out here marking lines and he couldn't start til Thursday but I think a couple more days should do it.

Marina has been to the vet twice this week. She's fine, but needed her teeth cleaned, so we went in Tuesday for a blood draw and I was really pleased with her results. Every number was almost exactly the same as the last tow "senior panels" she had in 2012 and 2009. Her kidneys and liver are totally healthy, so we proceeded with the cleaning on Thursday. When I took her in, they said it would probably be late afternoon before she was extubated and alert enough to leave. But then Dr. Rockwell, her vet, called at 11:15 and said she was extubated and standing up wagging her tale at her! So at 12:30 I went to pick her up and she was a bit subdued but otherwsie fine! It's always such a worry to have her anesthetized at her age but she alwasy does so well. She did have to have a tooth pulled-the very last molar on the top right, so she's on antibiotics and I've given her a pain pill the past two nights, but she's back to regular food so I guess she must feel O.K.

We often walk the dogs across the steet and into another neighborhood that has lots of empty space. To get there, we walk down a road past this little hobby farm that has some sheep (we think we hear them, anyway) and some shetland ponies. Yesterday when we walked, two of the ponies were quite close to the fence so I took a couple of pictures. I think the one would have walked right up to me, but since I was standing by a No Trespassing sign, I decided to not push my luck! Aren't they sweet?

 

 

I think there are 4 in all.

I moight have mentioned before that Marina Air Corps Station Beaufort is not too far away from us and when they are flying, we can hear them and sometimes see them. They will be flying a new fighter jet-the F35- from here very soon. Pat Conroy, the writer, lives here and when his book the Prince of Tides was made into a movie, it was filmed here. Barbra Streisand starred in it, along with Nick Nolte, and she stayed in a house in the Point, the old section of Beaufort right in town. She apparently was quite a complainer and not at all liked here in town (unlike Tom Hanks who was here to film part of Forrest Gump-the locals LOVED him). Anyway, she got very upset  about the jets flying over her house and called the Commander of MCAS to voice her displeasure. You'll see his response on the sign below, which is at the entrance to the base. It's said that for some reason, the flight pattern changed and went lower over her house and MUCH earlier in the morning!

The Marines are actually very good neighbors to have! They usually don't start flying until 8AM and if they are going to be doing manuevers at night, they generally put a notice in the newspaper and apologize ahead of time. Until our Dear Leader (Obama) decided to make an a** of himself by cutting funding for things that the public would notice most, there was a big fireworks show at Parris Island every 4th which was open to the public, and they served food and beverages-all as a way of thanking the community. Perhaps after 2016 we will be able to do that again!

Thanks for stopping by!! Hope everybody is keeping warm.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

We finally have had some warm weather and tomorrow to be even warmer, before back in the 50s on Thursday. Today was quite a big day for both of us. I took my first piano lesson tonight and actually learned to play a song!! When I got there, the little boy ahead of me was getting a scolding for not practicing-I surely won't make THAT mistake!

Oliver attended a Boy's Night Out even that our neighbor hosted. It was hosted at his family plantation about 45 minutes from Beaufort. Norris's grandfather bought the estate from E. F. Hutton at the beginning of World War Two. There are thousands of acres and it is a 24 bedroom house overlooking the rice fields.There was a huge fireplace in one room made out of lava rock from the Galapagos Islands. There were around 90 guys there, including the Bishop in Residence of our church, the Rector, several of our neighbors, people from the railroad (Norris's family owns a railroad), guys from all the professions, and military. It started with a clay pigeon shoot, then cocktails with appetizers (fancy things like quail poppers), an oyster roast, shrimp and then a sit down dinner of prime rib. Oliver met a lot of nice guys and really enjoyed himself.

We're both pretty tired from our adventures so off to bed!!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Well, no big surprise, but the weather forecasters overstated the situation just a bit! We survived our 24 hours of freezing cold and had about 1/4 inch of ice. The schools were closed yesterday and til noon today but it has finally gotten a few degrees above freezing so all is melting. Poor Oliver had a very serious case of cabin fever so today he has been to the grocery store, the barber shop, Grayco and is now off to the Home Depot in Hilton Head! The dogs and I felt we needed one more day inside but tomorrow should be sunny and 60 so hopefully it is the end of winter here. We suffered a lo0t of plant damage-we won't know how much until it warms up and everything starts growing again. We thought we had WAY too many plants around here so hopefully the ones we DIDN'T like all that much are the ones to go. Except look at our palm-all the ice on it. Some say it will come back, some say it is a goner. (We actually have TWO of these so hope we don't have to have them replaced!)

Here was pretty much the extent of it-this is Skipper's tennis ball in my lawn chair

 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

We are awaiting the Armageddon that is supposed to descend upon us when we will have rain, sleet, snow, ice, who knows what all! This is supposed to start tonight and got through tomorrow afternoon and everybody has made several trips to the store because, after all, how can we go EIGHTEEN HOURS without 12 loaves of bread and 8 pounds of hamburger and 6 gallons of milk? I was getting my hair cut at 9AM and they were ALREADY getting ready to leave early for the day! Schools closed, flights cancelled, VERY stern warnings from the police on just what they will do to us if we dare leave our homes. So far---some rain drops! We'll see what tomorrow brings. My camera is at the ready!

On another note--your little girl is becoming a woman!  I am taking confirmation classes at church, and next Tuesday I  start my piano lessons (the church organist will be my teacher so I won't even be able to swear when I can't get it right!) Yes, I'm coming of age and suppose I will be getting my period soon.

Hope everybody stays warm and if it gets too much, you can always come------oh, never mind!!

 

Friday, January 24, 2014

Holy Cow!! Will this cold weather EVER let up? We go back and forth between nice warm weather and then freezing cold weather and we are getting a little tired of it! Today the man from the nursery stopped by and he said he heard there could actually be snow one night next week!  This is the worst winter in the past 15 years here-darn that global warming! Anyway, it WAS bright and sunny today so even though it was chilly, we drove to Charleston for the boat show. It's a fairly large show, although the majority of boats are probably bewteen 20 and 40 feet-what we would be looking for IF we were in the market! Oliver thought he wanted to look at some fishing boats but couldn't get really excited about any of them. We picked up some literature and looked at all the other exhibits but didn't spend any time talking to any sales people. The most interesting thing we saw was a boat that actually can fly, that was used by the Russians to retrieve their astronauts after space flights. We had a long talk with the man who was overseeing the exhibit and learned a lot about space flight.

Sending get well wishes to our dear friend Sharon as she recovers from surgery!! She is doing quite well, we understand , so we are very happy.

There's a new Sheriff in town-Oliver's room is all finished.

Monday, January 13, 2014

I'm not sure I have said very much about the room that Oliver has been working on. We have a huge attic on the 3rd floor of the house but we also have 2 walk-in attics on the second floor. They are off the hall, on either side, of the hallway that runs between the "man cave" and the guest rooms. So Oliver decided he would make part of one of them into a small room where he could keep his safe that houses his gun collection and have a small desk and other of his "western" type things. He's been woking on it for quite a while. First he framed in the room and framed in his safe. he also installed a door so that we can use the rest of the attic behind his room for storage. He drywalled the ceiling and walls, installed a ceiling fan and two lamps where the desk will be, as well as the marine radio (we like to listen to the boaters on the ICW talking to the swing bridge) and a shelf. He painted everything, made a desk, stained the door and trim and finally installed a really beautiful hadr wood floor. So I have finally taken a couple of pictures-I'll take more when he finishes the trim on the floor and gets his desk in there. But here's what it looks like so far. He does amazing work!!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Hoping that everyone has survived this terrible weather! We were below freezing for about 36 hours and our plants took a real beating but according to what I read, we pretty much just have to leave them alone for a couple of weeks and see what happens. We have WAAAY too many plants here so I don't mind seeing some bite the dust but there were some really pretty ones I hope come back. Anyway, it is 72 here now, the dogs and I played a little chase the ball by the pool and we are now sitting on the screened porch for the first time in quite a while and enjoying it very much!  Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer but with rain and thunderstorms, so we are taking advantage of a warm sunny day while we can! I'll try to post a few pictures of my plants and maybe some of you gardeners will have some suggestions.  Stay warm!!!

 

Monday, January 6, 2014

Here's a little tip for my friends in the midwest, northwest and northeast----if you sit your laptop on your bare legs while you read this, you just might feel a bit warmer in a while! Holy smoke-what is WITH this weather? I looked this morning and it was -13 in Port Washington with a real feel of -49!!!  Glad we put the new furnace in the house a couple of weeks ago!! We are all bitching and moaning down here because we  are probably going to break a record tonight-it will get to 19 and stay there for a couple of hours before starting back up. There were people stocking up at the grocery today, althouygh ti will be 50 by Thursday and 70 by Saturday!  No snow in the forecast though. Good thing we have that global warming going on or there might be ice on my neighbor's trees

Oh-well-never mind!! I hope everybody stays inside and safe up there. And I want to thank my friend Kenny Phillips who posted a video of him throwing a pan of boiling water up in the air and it vaporized before it came down. He forgot to say exactly HOW cold it has to be so I am a little hesitatnt to demonstrate this trick for my South Carolina neighbors!!

Stay warm, my friends.

Thursday, January 2, 2014!!

Happy New Year to everyone and here's to a great 2014. We had a very quiet evening, with our traditional dinner of sauteed scallops over a vegetable ragout-don't ask me how we started this but it nis really good and for some reason, I never make it except on New Year's Eve! Yesterday we had the aslo traditional pork chops, cooked cabbage and black-eyed peas. This is the end of my culiary commentary!!

The weather here is not very nice-not as bad as much of the country-but not good, Chilly and rainy yesterday and today and down right cold tomorrow before back in the 60s for the week-end. I took all the decorations down abd today we will take them up to the third floor  attic. We went to Grayco on New Year's Eve day and I bought 3 more pre-lit wreaths on sale so yesterday I decided to decorate them, so that next Christmas they will be ready! We watched the Wisconsin-South Carolina Bowl game yesterday and were pleased that SC won. Don't tell anyone, but Oliver has never been a Wisconsin fan! He doesn't dislike the team really but he thinks Madison is the "Berkely of the Midwest"-in other words, way too liberal for our tastes-so we were happy. I just realized that we did NOT watch the Rose Bowl, so will have to get on-line and see how that turned out!

Better get moving I guess as today is a big errand day-Oliver to the dentist, a phone conference with our financial planner and a visit from the plumber to install the new switch on my whirlpool tub. Happy second day of the new year, everybody!

 

Friday, December 27, 2013

I see it has been quite a while since I updated! I don't know why-we haven't been all that busy but guess I hadn't uploaded pictures and I hate to post without a pic or two! In any case, we had a nice Christmas and hope you all did too. On Christmas Eve, we had a brisket dinner and then watched The Lone Ranger-a VERY funny movie-before we left for church at 10PM. There was a 30 minute musical program at 10:30 with our amazing choir and a brass quartet from town, just to put us all in the mood. The service started at 11 and wasn't over until 12:30-so many people there for communion that it took a bit longer. The church bells were ringing so joyfully when we left that we paused a bit to listen. On the way home, we went past a hpuse we had seen earlier with millions of lights, so we drove down the street and took some pictures. We weren't home until after 1AM and not in bed til almost 2, so we unfortunately missed church on Christmas morning. We had a quiet day with a few gifts and a long walk before our dinner-which was SUPPOSED to be  pork tenderloin but I mistakenly bought turkey tenderloin (don't know what it really was as Oliver says turkeys don't HAVE loins!) but it actually turned out to be very delicious! We were so tired that we went to bed early. This morning we were up and out in good time because Phyllis and Bobby were due to arrive before lunch. We were so glad to see them, as well as Kweely and Yogi, their two dogs. We had lunch and settled down to talk when Phyllis relaized she had left her clothes hanign in the closet at Ketherine's (her daughter in Savannah). After a quick call, Phyllis and I left and drove half way to Savannah to meet Katherine. We didn't mind, as it gave us a nice time to talk, and I was glad to see Katherine. We were home in time for  coctails and then had pasta and salad for dinner. We walked the dogs and then sat and drank wine and talked until midnight. Phyllis and I excxhahnged our gifts and she gave me a beautiful gold and silver bracelet called the Signature Shield of Faith-very beautiful both in looks and in meaning. This morning we ate breakfast and then took a very long walk with all 4 dogs before they left around noon. It was just a wonderful visit and we look forward to seeing them in Charlotte next month. We're planning a get together with Christel and Marilyn, the two ladies from Raleigh we met on our river cruise.

Here is a pic of the house with the millions of lights. It was really pretty and had music as well.

Poor Yogi was tired because he had to keep running away from Skipper! For some reason, while Skipper loves to play withKeely and had a good time outside with Yogi, every once in a while he just jumps on poor Yogi, growling and snarling! We think it might be because Yogi breathes quite heavily through his short nose and Skipper might interpret is as growling!

All 8 oif us were quite tired as the night went on!

We hope everyone has a Happy and safeNew Year's. We always stay home that night and have a nice dinner and then watch the New Year come in in Australia before going to sleep at about 9!!!

 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Well, we both ended up with bad colds after our Michigan trip! I personally have NEVER set foot on an airplane WITHOUT getting a cold but Oliver usually doesn't. He got his the day we got home and I was two days behind him. We are both feeling better though and looking forward to the 74 degree weather we are expecting tomorrow !A good soak in the sun by the pool will do me a world of good!

We just keep buying fun things for each other for Christmas-first the furnace and today a new king size mattress for our bed! We really need it and will be glad to have it when it gets delivered on Christmas Eve -by Santa maybe!!- but it is not the most fun way to spend money!

Realized I forgot to post this very beautiful picture I took at Mary's. If only you didn't have to go outside-ever-you could enjoy the beauty of a fresh snowfall.

 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

We are home, after spending a few wonderful days with Mary in Grand Rapids. We left here on Monday and droipped the dogs off at the kennel and then went to the airport in Savannah. This is a great medium sized airport with easy parking and not much walking! It was 70 when we left here and 600 below zero when we got to Grand Rapids. Poor Mary had to come out and get us at 10:30 at night!!! We stayed up chatting and then went to bed as the snow continued to fall. On Tuesday morning, I decided to do a little sledding down the huge hill behind her house. Someone-although I can't remember who-may have been my husband-told me I was too old to go sledding and I decided that the only reason people quit doing things when they get older is because--they quite doing them! Don't want that to happen to me. Turned out I may not be too old for sledding down a hill-but the walk up was a killer!!

The rest of the time I stayed inside-Mary and I were working on a jigsaw puzzle which we had hoped to finish but I left her with about 300 green pieces that all look the same! On Tuesday night her next door neighbor Armen came for dinner and we had such a nice time, with homemade pizza and lots of good talk around the table. Last night was our Christmas Eve so Carol and Tom, Ashley, David and Cooper and friend Dan came for dinner, which was very yummy as usual. We didn't get to bed until 11:00 and had a taxi picking us up at 4:30 so it was a VERY short night!  But we had a good trip home today and although it isn't exactly warm here, we think 60 is better than 10, so we're happy.

While in Michigan, we bought each other a Christmas present---turns out our furnace in Port Washington suffered a "catastrophic" failure so we bought a new furnace! How fun. Hope everyone has safe travels during this holiday season.

 

Here I am at the top of Mary's great big hill

And here I am towards the bottom

Cooper

Mary, Carol and Tom

 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

We've had quite a nice week here. the weather has been nice-in the mid 70s and sunny-and we have spent quite a bit of time outside. Oliver continues work on his little room that he's making out of one of the walk in attics. He's built his safe into the wall, has the insulation in and will start the drywall. It's a tiny little room but he will have a little desk in there and I do't know what exactly else-but he loves a project and this has been a big one! Other than that, we've done a few mundane errands-hair cuts, dentist, etc. Tonight we are going over to Hilton head with our neighbors to see a Christmas how. There is quite a big performing arts center in HH and we're looking forward to seeing the program. Tomorrow will just be church and football and then Monday we leave for Grand Rapids for an early Christmas with Mary. Lookign forward to seeing her-not so much the snow and cold!!

We took the dogs to the beach yesterday and they loved it. We went at high tide and the tides this week are higher than normal, so they were able to wade in the water the whole way!

 

Friday, November 29, 2013

What a difference a week makes-it is still beautifully sunny here but very chilly-this morning it was 41 degrees when we got up! I had on a hat and gloves when we walked the dogs. It's supposed to be back in the 70s by mid-week-here's hoping they're right.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were supposed to have our dinner today with John and Jeannette but then John had to work today so we will be feasting on turkey and all the trimmings on Sunday. We sure were hungry yesterday though, just thinking about all the yummy food our family and friends were enjoying. We're thankful for you all, though, so tried not to begrudge your dinners!

I did get our Christmas tree up yesterday and we got the wreaths that I made hung and put some garland on the upstairs porch railing. That may be all I get done this year-I have SO many decorations in Wisconsin and hate to buy too much here, since eventually we will be moving our things and I'll have it all. But I do like some decorations and I'm pleased with how it looks.

We ventured out to the grocery store and Grayco (Oliver's men's mall store) today but tried to avoid the Black Friday rush. Today we managed to get Oliver's gun safe up the stairs-it weighs several hundred opunds and every time we move it, I swear that will be the last time but somehow he talks me into just one last move!!  This time I mean it though so I hope he likes it where it is! Sort of an IQ test for people with bad backs and bad necks to be moving heavy objects!

Here's how pretty our house looked last night. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Friday, November 22, 2013

Such a beautiful day here and I just realized how pretty our fall flowers and trees are. Don't know what they are, but they sure are bright and cheerfull!

On a more wintery note, I finished making 6 wreaths for the windows, except for the red ribbons they will hang by. Hope to decorate next week.

Yesterday I got my stitches out. Not too bad except for one VERY stubborn stitch-which the endodontist said he THOUGHT he'd be sorry about putting in! I sure was sorry cause it hurt like hell but now they're out and there was no evidence of root fracture so all should be well. One little piece of thread slipped back into my gum so that might work it's way out at some point-or not. But shouldn't be an issue either way. Now I am off to get a mammogram. What a fun week!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Happy Fourth Birthday to my great niece Laine!! Hope my little pumpkin has a great day. Here she is enjoying her birthday breakfast.

After 2 1/2 hours in the chair, a boatload of novocaine and 13 stitches, my root canal and apicoectomy were finished! It was interesting (and gruesome) watching it on the tv! He cut the gum down to the bone, pulled the skin flap up with a retractor, and then filed and drilled the tip of the root down. Then pulled the flap back down and stitched it. He used teeny tiny thread and did lots of little stitches because he didn't want me to have a scar. He was WAY more concerned about that than I was. I am shocked at how little-as in almost zero-discomfort I have. He had me take 800mg of ibuprofen before the novocaine wore off and then I took one oxycodone before bed, just in case, but today haven't needed a thing!  I can feel the stitches pull if I laugh or smile but otherwise it's almost as if nothing happened. Go in Thursday to have the stitches removed. And he couldn't see any evidence of a root fracture so I should be set to go! Here's a creepy picture-don't look if you don't like creepy pictures! Not too clear but you can see how long the incision is!

We have had lovely weather here. It is definitely fall but yesterday it was almost 80 and just prefect. Last night a cold front came through so today it's only in the 60s but sunny and calm so feels pretty nice. This is at the property across the road from us where we walk the dogs for a change.

Friday, November 15, 2013

I guess we are officially South Carolina residents! We had a crazy busy day, starting at 9:30 at our insurance agent's office, where we got the cars insured, then to the County Auditor's office, where we inquired as to WHY we had gotten a property tax bill for our "rental property"!  Along with the bill for our house-both at the same address!! Obviously a common problem, as 5 other people came in with the same issue! Then to the County Assessor's office to get paperwork to get our property taxes lowered, as we are now residents. Then off to the DMV for new registration and licenses. I had about 5 pounds of paper with me but they objected to the fact that my marriage license was a photo copy and I apparently had nothing that proved I lived here. Fortunately our insurance agent was able to fax the bill for our homeowner's insurance which had my name on it and they decided that we probably really hadn't forged the marriage license! While there, we met a very nice young lady who is a Marine from  Milwaukee and had a nice chat with her. We finally finished at about 12:20 and raced off to my 12:30 hair appointment. Thank goodness for the wine they offer there! Oliver picked me up a couple of hours later and off we went to Lowe's. We FINALLY got home at 4:30-I had NOTHING to eat all day so fixed some yummy pasta and wolfed it down.  Now going upstairs to relax and do some sewing before going to bed as a South Carolinian!!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Hey Canada---come get your darned Clipper!!  We are FREEZING here! It is 44 degrees and windy-although sunny and should be back in the 70s by the week-end but dang! looks like I picked the right day to change the page to WINTER!!

On a brighter note, we had a wonderful visit from friends Karen and Harry Caudill. Karen and I have known each other since the 7th grade and I lived with her when my parents moved from Marion, Ohio to Evansville, Indiana. While we haven't always been in close contact, our parents have always been close so we have kept up to date on each other's lives. So the last two times we've seen each other, we have just been able to pick right up where we left off-remembering old boy friends, old clothes we shared, old arguments we had-the most notable one centering on whether ants are smart or dumb!! They are on their way to their winter home in Northport, FL so were able to stop and see us for a couple of days. We spent hours talking about old and new times, spent some time strolling around Beaufort, visited our church and yesterday they treated us to a  great lunch OUTSIDE. Glad the weather was good while they were here. We hope to get down to Florida to visit them sometime this winter. They left this morning and we all miss them, dogs included.

This afternoon two women from our new church are stopping by for a little visit, tomorrow the dogs have a day of beauty at the groomers and Friday I get  groomed too. We have another class at church on Sunday and Monday is my oral surgery. Yuck.

Hope everyone is staying warm. Thanks for stopping by.

Karen and Harry in our kitchen

Marina with her new BFF

And on the visitor's swing!

Forever Friends!