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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Milepost Passed

Recently I passed the one thousand mark on blogs posted! I know I don't post as often as I should or could, but I am amazed that I've done over 1000 blogs.

I am also grateful for all of my readers!  Without you I wouldn't be posting about our life on the road.  Sometimes our day to day isn't all that exciting so I thank you for hanging in there and continuing to see what we're up to and where our travels take us.

My wash machine is working again! And it only cost $360!  Isn't that ridiculous? The parts were $250, the rest was labor.

Had a rainstorm inundate us Monday afternoon and the rest of the day was gloomy.  It's amazing to watch the clouds build up every afternoon and speculate as to whether or not we'll get any rain.  We seem to be in a pocket here and half the time the rain passes us by.  We are situated between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Okeechobee and perhaps that has something to do with it.

All is right in our world

Monday, June 29, 2015

Heckle and Jeckle

Lately a pair of Black Vultures have been spending time around the back yard.  Never close enough for good pictures but that's OK, they're not a 'gorgeous' bird!


I love watching them soar as they are quite graceful.

Whether you like them or not, vultures are part of the 'circle of life' and necessary for keeping nature clean of dead critters.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Sunday Family Dinner

On Friday afternoon Jim and Matt, with some help from Chris,  installed the cooling unit on the fridge. Chris had to leave for work.  The guys labored long and hard trimming the insulation foam and getting the unit mounted and putting the fridge back in it's compartment. Unfortunately neither of them are electricians and they worked until dark trying to figure out which wire went where....so we still don't have a fridge.

Boo and I stayed in the bedroom for what seemed like days but was only a couple hours.  I read and played games on my tablet.  Trimmed up Boo's feet and generally kept him occupied because he wanted to be in the thick of the excitement down in the kitchen.

Saturday Jim and I had errands to run and we had lunch at Twisted Tuna in Salerno.  It's a funky seafood restaurant and this was our second time eating there.  Jim had a fried flounder sandwich (enough fish for two) and I had a Greek Salad.  We both enjoyed some cold Shock Top.  The restaurant is on the water and the marina is nearby.  Always nice to sit near the water and watch water traffic.

Today we had a lovely family dinner with Sonsearae and Chris.  Jim grilled knockwursts and chicken sausage along with summer squash and zucchini.  Sonsearae fixed corn on the cob and two slaw's (one with mayo, the other with Italian dressing).  I fixed Cajun boiled potatoes and sauteed mushrooms.  It was a lot of food for four people but each family has leftovers!

I could get used to these Sunday dinners with them....

Tomorrow is the day for the wash machine to get fixed....and someone with a knowledge of schematics and wiring is coming by to see if he can figure out the electrical part of the fridge.  

Tonight we'll watch PBS

I hope you had a lovely weekend

All is right in our world

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

What are you reading?

Have you ever started reading a book and really gotten into it?  I'm talking about so interesting that you don't want to put it down?  You just want to keep reading until you reach the end?

On the other hand, if it's so good, you want to read it in small segments to make it last longer, because when you finish it you'll be sad?

Our weather keeps us indoors during most of the day.  It's to hot to be outside so we spend quiet time together, reading.  Not a bad way to spend time.  It's a good thing we have so many books to read on the Kindle!  For the most part they were free books.  You can search Amazon for the free listings, read a synopsis and chose.  There's also Book Bub which we both get daily emails that include those types of books we like.  On Facebook there's several groups that search for you!

Most afternoons the skies cloud up and we hear thunder.  Yesterday we actually got some rain!  It amuses me to look at radar pictures and see the storm go around us most days.

To what I've read so far this year click on this link or click on the Library page above.

All is right in our world

Monday, June 22, 2015

Lovely Dinner with Family

Our dinner at Carrabba's was delicious!  Chris, Sonsearae, Bobby, Jim and I had a good time sharing this meal.  Jim and I shared some steamed mussels then our soup and salad arrived.  Jim had a Caesar salad while I 'enjoyed' a bowl of minestrone.  I'm not sure there is one recipe for minestrone but the soup I had was really 'different', it had cabbage! and no pasta.  Tasty nonetheless.

For out meal I chose Tag Pic Pac, not sure how it got that name but it's pasta made with delicious tomatoes, basil and garlic.  Of course I brought most of mine home.  Jim had chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, I forget the name of the dish.  He brought some home.

Three of us shared a bottle of Gabbiano Chianti wine which is a favorite of mine.

Dessert was three different kinds!  Tiramisu of course, mini cannoli and a butter cream cake with fruit.  All of them very tasty.

Once home we just relaxed.  I know I watched a couple hours of Hawaii on Nat Geo and Jim played a game on his computer.  Neither one of us got hungry until after eight o'clock.  He made himself a peanut butter sandwich with honey and I had some popcorn.

We spent the evening watching PBS.  A show about Royal Clothing, Poldark and The Crimson Field.  The last two shows are series and I think we'll continue to watch them.

We have our cooling unit for the refrigerator, it arrived last Friday.  Not sure when it will be installed.  Also on Friday a Sears repairman came out and confirmed our wash machine needs a new control panel, ouch!  It was ordered and he'll be back on the 29th to repair it.  So I'll continue doing laundry next door for a wee bit longer.

Jim has a doctor appointment on the 9th of July.  That's what we have to look forward to the next couple of weeks.

All is right in our world

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Happy Father's Day

I hope every dad out there has a great day today!

On Friday Bobby (Chris' son) arrived to spend the weekend with his dad.  I know they went to a movie that evening so I didn't see him until Saturday.  The two of them are quite a pair!

Sonsearae went to Houston last Thursday to be with a friend as she said goodbye to her husband.  Back home yesterday she was planning dinner as they drove home!  She's our social director.  Usually she has to work on Sunday so there isn't much time for socializing as the alarm goes off way to early for her to stay up late the night before.

Jim broke out the grill and he and Chris cooked bison burgers and corn on the cob.  I contributed some baked beans, while Sonsearae fixed tater tots and cooked a couple black bean burgers.  Some lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and condiments made up the rest of the meal. We fixed our plates and along with cold beer and iced tea we sat at the dining table and we all ate our fill and had a good time talking.  No cell phones until the meal was over.

Dinner this afternoon will be at Carrabba's as we ladies know our men like Italian food!

How will you honor the dad's in your life today?

All is right in our world!


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Red Beans and Rice

Typically on laundry day (Monday) in New Orleans the ladies would take the leftover meat from Sunday dinner, toss it in a pot with red beans, celery, onion, bell pepper (the holy trinity) some good spices and let it cook all day into yummy goodness.  Today I'm doing the sheets so it smells wonderful in here!  I know, it's not Monday but any day is good for red beans and rice.

I do make them from scratch, sometimes using canned beans, but this time I soaked my red beans a few days ago.  And they are red beans not kidney beans.  I like the smaller beans for this dish.  I also make my own Cajun seasoning so I can avoid the salt.  Just do a search for a recipe and you'll find quite a few!

Let me tell you, I think this was my best pot of beans ever!  Even Jim commented on them...now if I can only remember what all I put in that pot...it's different every time I make them.

This afternoon I also made some peaches and cream scones from King Arthur Flour.  Easy to do, just add an egg, some milk and butter.

Had a 'storm' roll through this afternoon, we didn't get much rain but it sure cooled off.  The house is open because it's in the 70's outside.  I can feel the humidity creeping in so I'll close it up soon.

All is right in our world

Monday, June 8, 2015

Expensive Lesson

As some of you know our fridge died Easter weekend.  Jim ordered a cooling unit from Nucold Refrigeration Inc in Morrilton, Arkansas.  We waited and waited and waited for the shipping information and Jim called and was told it was sent etcetera etcetera etcetera.

They couldn't find it and they sent another one.   Well it arrived in a timely manner and our son in law arranged for some men to come help install it.  Muscles were required to get the fridge out of its stall.  All went well until they tried to install the cooling unit.  It didn't fit.  A call to Nucold resulted in pictures being sent and they said to just bend the part that didn't quite fit.  All the guys combined couldn't do it.

Nucold won't reply to calls and emails and we're out the money we paid.  Jim has sent letters to the Governor and Better Business Bureau.  After some more research Jim discovered others have had problems with this company.

Please avoid all contact with them!

Today we ordered another cooling unit from a different company.

Hopefully soon we'll have a working refrigerator.

We're enjoying our stay here. It's been wonderful seeing Sonsearae and Chris on a daily basis. They are a very loving, giving couple and the love they share is visible to any who spends time with them.

All is right in our world