THANKSGIVING FAMILY DINNER, 2011

We are really enjoying life in our new apartment home...it is very carefree and relaxing!  Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated on the Sunday after Thanksgiving due to colds and coughs.  Needless to say we had LOTS of FOOD and everyone was stuffed!  Best of all it was really good for us to be together...it has been awhile...even though we all live within 20 miles of each other!  HUNTING has been of high priority for Randy, Russ and Dianna and will continue through the end of December.  They all came home with colds and coughs after the last trip to Georgia but only one deer...very unusual for them!  We had TURKEY and all the fixings for dinner.

MOVED AGAIN...AND THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE!!!!!

Well we have “done it again”…WE HAVE MOVED!!!! During the past few weeks we have made a life changing decision that will probably seem like 100 percent opposite from what we said we wanted our lifestyle to be like six months ago! Six months ago we put our doublewide up for sale and moved into our travel trailer out on Russ’ five acres with the intention of traveling with the truck and travel trailer after our doublewide sold. Well…the doublewide has not sold yet and we have had lots of time to reflect on our situation and the reality of just being out there “traveling”…and as much as we would like to do just that, it does not seem very realistic considering the expense and the fact that we do not intend to work anymore. So…our doublewide remains for sale and we really believe it will sell when winter folks start coming back. We moved to an apartment in Bartow, FL and will sell our travel trailer and do our traveling like other folks by selecting a special spot and just going on a “vacation” when we feel we can afford one!!!!


This apartment complex is lovely and all residents are ages 55+…Bartow is centrally located about 20 miles from where we were at Russ’ farm and about 30 miles from our doublewide at Frostproof. All the facilities we use regularly are within a mile radius…such as Wal-Mart, Publix, Save-A-Lot, Walgreens, our bank and doctor as well as all kinds of eating places. We will only be a few more miles from Randy and Russ’ homes and Randy works in Bartow. The apartment complex is kept immaculate and our apartment has a screened balcony, 2 bedrooms & 2 baths, carpeted with central air and heat, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and garbage disposal. There are organized activities, an exercise room, computer room with books & videos as well as a beautiful pool and community room.

The downside is that we had to make this move without our faithful and loved friend of over 12 years, Phoebe. We have had to have her put to sleep as she no longer had any quality of life. Over the last couple of months she had become blind as well as her internal organs were shutting down…her food and drink would go straight thru her within a few minutes after consuming them and she had lost over 4 lbs. in just a few short weeks. She was in at least her 13th year as we were told she was at least one year old when we got her from the humane society. Phoebe traveled thousands of miles with us and never met anyone she didn’t love.  In memory of our sweet little Phoebe -- 1998-2011 

You can check out our new residence at http://www.meetinghouseatbartow.com/

CANNING TOMATOES

Last week we drove near Bradenton to pick tomatoes...this huge tomato business is having trouble finding folks to pick their crop of tomatoes so they opened their fields up to U-Pick, letting folks pick up to 25 lbs. of tomatoes for only $1!!!!  We picked $6.00 worth...although we felt like we got way more than that for our money!  Our daughter-in-law, Dianna helped us pick as well as spent the next two mornings helping us can them all up, yielding 54 quarts plus 4 pints!!!!  There were still plenty to eat fresh and share with family/friends.

Our own little container garden is doing VERY well and we have tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, chives, basil and parsley.  The days are starting to feel very much like SUMMER, although we are getting a 3-day respite this week before it heads back toward the 90's!

WAITING FOR THE HUMMINGBIRDS!!!!

There was a beautiful hummingbird one day when we had the hose on so we got the feeder filled and hanging under the tree...but haven't spotted him yet!!!!  The hummingbird juice is going down, but it might just be evaporating!

Here is a photo that Dennis took last spring while we were in Virginia...up close and personal...he was busy preening himself!!!!

FROSTPROOF FLORIDA IS FINALLY GETTING SOME RAIN...THANKFULLY!

SPRINGTIME AT THE FARM!  Finally we are getting some rain here at Frostproof!  Today, so far we have received over an inch and it is forecast that there will be a 50 percent chance of rain ALL WEEK!  It makes the garden grow...I think our leaf lettuce grew several inches overnight!

Here is a femail Cardinal on the fence in the yard.  The beautiful Male Cardinal is always nearby also, but we have not been able to capture him yet on the camera!

This woodpecker was busy recently trying to drill himself a NEW home in the utility pole outside the pump house.



COUNTRY LIFE IS GOOD

This time of year is some of the MOST PLEASANT here in central Florida.  The nights are cool and days are warm, usually with a breeze.  The air is full of the fragrance of citrus blossoms as ALL the citrus groves are white with BLOSSOMS.  The honey bees are sure busy trying to pollinate EACH blossom.

Our container garden is growing with leaps and bounds...we had about an inch of rain last Thursday and everything really need it!  There are small tomatoes on the Cherry Tomato plant and tiny yellow squash...hopefully they mature.  We have broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, three different types of tomatoes, green beans as well as our Malibar Spinach growing!

HAWK at the Farm!

There is a large HAWK nest in a tree just inside the pasture here at the farm!  There is at least one young HAWK that can fly but is still being fed by one of his parents.  We often see them with what appears to be mice or snakes dangling from their beaks! 

Pappa's Chair...Who's the Pappa?

Marlin is Russ's 11 year old Bulldog and he has been VERY happy to have us here with him.  Before we moved out here Russ or Dianna came by everyday to feed him, but otherwise he was here alone!  He loves sitting on the little deck outside our travel trailer door...it puts him eye-to-eye with Denny and he tries to give Denny "kisses" or to climb into his lap!  This shot was taken right after Denny vacated his chair after repeatedly refusing Marlin's pleas to sit on his lap!

EASTERN BLUEBIRD at the farm in Florida

One of the first weeks after we moved out to Russ' farm, Denny was checking out the wildlife in the pasture and saw several Eastern Bluebirds flying around him.  Here is a great photo of one of them that posed for him!

MOVE TO THE FARM!!!

Just this afternoon some friends asked me if I had added to our "blog" and I replied, "I haven't had anything to "blog" about!!!!"  They reminded me that YES, I surely do have something to blog about...and they were right!!!!  So here is what has been happening so far in 2011.
Mid-January we hooked onto our travel trailer and moved it to our youngest son, Russ', five acres about 10 miles to the west of our double-wide home!   Russ and Dianna had purchased and moved to a new home after they were married in July and it is about 10 miles from here.  We had put our doublewide for sale late in November and have been sorely disappointed with so little interest and "lookers"! This winter has been VERY slow for real estate in our area of Florida; so, our double wide remains FOR SALE. In February we had a huge moving yard sale and did very well. We packed away the items we couldn't part with and stored them in our cargo storage trailer. We began staying full time in our RV travel trailer around the 20th of January which allowed us to open up the double wide and spread out our yard sale items throughout the dining/living and kitchen areas as well as the front screened porch and the carport. 

We are still making Many trips back and forth getting the double wide cleaned up so that it appears exactly like it will be for someone to move in! We have had a few "lookers" this month, but no serious offers.

After the moving/yard sale was completed, Denny got his John Deere mower as we will be mowing

and caring for Russ' 5-acres as well as feeding his animals. Here is a picture of Dennis in his "glory"!!!




We do really enjoy this location...we had stayed here on Russ' property in our motorhome during the winter months of 1998, 1999, 2000 before moving to Whidden Mobile Home Park in the fall of 2001.  It is beautiful here and we wake to the country sounds of birds singing in the trees, roosters crowing, cows bellowing, horses neighing and, yes, sometimes dogs barking!!!!

We have been here about one month and have a container garden growing with tomatoes, green beans, summer crookneck squash, zucchinni, cucumbers, spinach, assorted pots of lettuce and salad greens.  The tomatoes are blossoming and one plant has small tomatoes starting already...I can't wait!!!!

Dennis has taken some lovely photos of wildlife here on the "farm"...resident hawk family, bluebirds and, of course, Marlin...Russ' dog who has enjoyed having someone here with him again on an everyday basis!  Check back often as I will be adding some great photos soon!