Winter has come to Welaka

First off let me apologize for these pictures.  For some reason Picassa won't allow me to upload using the 'blog this' tab.  I get 'service unavailable error 503'. If you know how I can fix this, let me know.

Last Sunday we sat outdoors and enjoyed the wildlife feeding at our hanging feeders.

The Squirrels are amusing but won't let the birds land to feed

Not sure what this little guy in the center of the picture is, but there is a flock of them that come by daily.  Only a couple inches big and fast!

See the notch in the tray?  Jim managed to hit it with his sling shot!  Not sure if it was marble or steel shot but it scared the squirrel....but not for long...

My patio plants are colorful!

This black cat belongs to one of our neighbors and his entertainment is chasing the squirrels and annoying Boo.  When Boo spots him he barks up a storm to let me know we have an intruder!

While watching these critters we enjoyed a cold beer.  Mine was Thomas Creed, Up the Creek...unbeknownst to me this beer is 12.5% alcohol!  My nose and lips were getting numb when I checked the bottle for alcohol content.  Reminded me of margaritas at Jorge's!

Because of this beer, I didn't feel like fixing dinner so we walked over to Shrimps R Us for dinner.  It was beginning to cool off and I'm glad I brought my jacket.

For our evening entertainment we watched Downton Abby, thus our Sunday ended.

Monday brought rain the beginning of the cold front that gave us winter.  Jim worked all day and as the temperature dropped I got the plants all covered and bedded down for the freezing temperatures.  Jim put water in the fresh water tank and we used the pump...or so we thought.  Not sure what happened but the pump sounded funny...and during the night the hot water tank emptied and now it doesn't work along with the pump.  We can heat the water on gas but not electric.

Boy did it get cold!  Not sure about the freeze watch but with clear skies the chill factor was enough for us.  

Tuesday we headed into St Augustine to replace our Soda Stream canister and get another soda mix for Jim.  Then we went in search of a place to have lunch.  We heard Caps on the Water was good so we went in search of it up the A1A.  Found it!  We wended our way through a nice neighborhood and found it located on the intracoastal waterway....but it was closed! As we got back on A1A we noticed on the sign that it would reopen on January 22!  I guess we'll have to wait to see if it's any good.

So we still needed some lunch and stopped at The Reef Restaurant, right on the Atlantic ocean.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch overlooking the crashing waves.  Hard to believe it was only 34 degrees outside. Of course, once we stepped outside, wham!

We made it home and Boo was glad to see us. We watched NCIS and the new show that followed it

Once again freezing temperatures were predicted so we left the plants covered and left water running in the kitchen sink.  We stayed nice and warm under the duvet after setting the furnace at 50 degrees.  It did come on, so I guess it got cold.

Wednesday I took some laundry down to wash and stopped by to see Kathy and John...we decided on this cloudy day we needed to find a mall in Ocala so we could walk and keep from being so bored in this nasty weather.   I put my clothes in the dryer,Jim put away whatever it was he was working on and within an hour we were on the road!

The drive is nice but not much to see driving through the Ocala Forest.  We chatted, discussing various trips we've made over the years and our mishaps while camping.  Once we got into Ocala I think we were all hungry so food was our first option.  We finally stopped at Harry's Seafood Bar and Grille. Right in the town center.  Christmas decorations we still up and on every corner of the square there was a painted pony.

Couldn't help but notice the Mardi Gras beads as soon as we stepped inside. Then looking around the decor was like New Orleans!  We've been to one before in Tallahassee with Sonsearae and Chris.

And the menu!  It was hard to restrain from ordering everything!  If you like Cajun food and come across this restaurant give it a try.  I gar-ron-tee you won't be disappointed.  When we left we made a stop at Starbucks for coffee.

The drive back was looong! Not really but we were tired and ready to get home. We arrived just before it got pitch dark.  Once again Boo was happy to see us

During the night I heard some rain and once again our day was overcast and yucky.  The rain only lasted during the morning and around lunch time Jim took two loads of laundry to be washed.  We've spent most of the day just sitting....around 1500 we took Boo for a walk.  Although not cold, it was windy so we didn't go all the way down to the river

Sure hope this stretch of winter is over...

65 days

• 5,624,578 seconds
• 93,742 minutes (rounded down)
• 1562 hours (rounded down)
• 65 days (rounded down)
• 9 weeks (rounded down)