Winter has descended upon us

I did not want to get up this morning.  It was cold and I could feel little aches and pains from the exercises I've added to my mornings.  So I laid there trying to go back to sleep but alas it was not to be.  

First thing I checked was the outside temperature....54 degrees!  Now I realize that's not cold for Northerners but this is the coldest we've seen for a year.  I want to thank the Yankees for sending this cold air down to us!  It didn't help that the sun didn't come out until after 1000.

The inside temperature was hovering around 65 so we decided to test the furnace to make sure it still works.  It does!

There are a lot of coconut palms around here.  This one is located at the Marina.

On Sundays we usually head into Stuart to check out the Green Market and to walk the river boardwalk.  Not this week.  We headed that way and as we got closer the wet stuff falling out of the clouds got heavier so we skipped it and headed to the mall. Good way to get some steps in.  Do you have a Fitbit or other pedometer to keep track of your steps?  It's the latest thing you know!  Jim and I sort of compete.  Each day we share how many steps we've taken before we go to bed at night.  It's not often I beat him.

After we'd worked up an appetite we headed to Flanigan's Seafood Bar and Grill for some lunch.  Jim had ribs, baked potato and salad while I had a baked potato and black beans with rice.  We both had a beer.

We then headed home where Jim took a nap after loading the mattress pad into Sonsearae's dryer.  You see, before we left I had stripped the bed and was washing linen's.

While he slept I watched some football while futzing around on the computer.  I also walked Boo but neither of us wanted to stay our very long.  The cold air chased us indoors.

I love being able to do my laundry at home. I've done two loads this morning and not having to gather everything to schlep to a laundromat is heaven to me.  Do you have to?  I've done it and at this stage of my life and glad I don't have to.

Today we're cleaning out the fridge. To many containers of leftovers...they need to be eaten.  I try to eat leftovers for breakfast but sometimes I can't eat them fast enough.  This morning I had potatoes and gravy.

Critters under the bed!

Friday was a busy day for us.  We had breakfast, Jim did the dishes and I made the bed.  That's when I discovered mice had a party, overnight, under the bed.  I keep my pillow under the bed and when I got it out the night before I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  

A quick look and I could see droppings everywhere!  But I couldn't find the source of their food.  We had already made plans to go back to Home Depot to return a toilet seat so we added traps and storage bins to our list.

At Home Depot I also picked up a bag of potting soil so I could plant up a couple pots.  But I needed plants so after we left Home Depot we headed to a nursery we've passed many times on our drive into Stuart.  I was in heaven! Pinder's is jam packed with everything you can imagine in the plant world. I really want to go back and look around.  Anyway I found a mint and parsley to put in the pots.  Now I just need to take the time to pot them up.

Back home it was time for lunch and a clean up.  I quickly turned on the oven and we had spring rolls for lunch along with some leftover slaw and some raw veggies.  

I started pulling out items from under the bed while the oven heated up.  That's when I discovered the food source!  I had a big bag of dog treats and the mice had chewed a hole right through the tough plastic bag.  What surprises me is that with the evidence of activity there had to be several mice and not one of us heard it.  Not even Boo!

Oh well, I needed to tidy up under the bed and with the new bins it's more organized under there.  All food items are stored safely.  And traps were set.

For our dinner I made a Tuscan Kale Stew that was delicious!  The recipe says it serves four and there's enough left that we can have it for dinner tonight

Saturday we both got up around 0730.  I spent the night before listening for mice and didn't sleep well.  Made some grits for breakfast.  There was evidence of a mouse but nothing in the trap.  Once again I cleaned up the droppings.

On Saturday's Jim and I weigh in.  I lost half a pound, he did not.

Jim was busy doing the black tank and other outside chores.  Sonsearae was off from work and she and I went shopping. We ladies headed to BJ's and had a good time looking at a lot of items.  Sonsearae needed to pick up a couple toys and I found the selection interesting.  It's been a long time since I've looked at toys!

We left that store and headed to Target and found more things to buy!  LOL  

By this time we were both hungry and we went to Flanigan's for a quick snack.  I ordered some onion rings and a cold beer while Sonsearae had the fish dip and water (she was driving).  Her dip came with tortilla chips, crackers, celery and carrot sticks and a little container of jalapeno slices.  Enough food for a meal.  My basket of onion rings was enormous also.

Back home Jim helped with unloading our purchases and putting some away.

Later, while relaxing in front of the TV Boo decided to go nuts.  Barking and carrying on enough that I got up to see what was the matter.  Upstairs he was sniffing along the bottom edges of the doors and dresser and foot of the bed.  So I had an AH HA moment and we checked under the bed.  Found two traps had been sprung....no party for those two mice!

Fixed some popcorn for us to enjoy and we spent a quiet evening on our computers while watching Alaskan shows.  Those folks are welcome to Alaska.  Might be nice to visit but I don't want to live there.

Jim is still in bed so I don't know if we had overnight visitors...

all is right in our world