As most everyone knows, we got home the beginning of March, and thankfuly, the weather started improving. The snow disappeared quite fast and April came and went without so much as a flurry.

I went back to work and we hired a nephew, who is a contractor, to paint the whole inside of the house :-), the results of which you can see in the photos. You must understand that when we moved in here, EVERYTHING had REALLY ugly wallpaper so when we took that off, the best thing to do was paint the whole place beige/off white, or a variation on beige/off white!

What came of this latest change is thanks to nephew Petes ability with a paintbrush and Daughter Anns ability to see what something will look like finished, from a couple of paint chips...what a family we have! The only things left to do are some art work over the fireplace and the large couch in the living room.

In this process Paul decided that we needed to get rid of the shelves in the laundry room and he discovered IKEA, he thinks they rock. He got all the cabinets in the laundry room and installed them with just a little help from me. He has decided that IKEA is the genius of cabinets! Go figure, most newly weds had that figured out awhile back.

In between getting home, Joan going nuts with pain colors etc, Paul came down with an intestinal virus that none of the Drs could find, never got more than one room away from a bathroom and lost 21 pounds before it fixed itself. The specialists think he picked up a wierd virus somewhere and it worked itself through his system. We have no idea what, where or why. We only know he was sick, lost weight and now he is better!







I am back to work at the Y, Paul does a little bit of sales work in the building field, we see the Grand boys almost daily and we have decided that we are not going back to the panhandle of FL again in the near future (of course, with the big oil spill, that may be a very good move). We have not decided what, if anything, we will do during the winters. I guess we will play it by ear and see what happens.

In the meantime we will enjoy the MN summer, if it ever gets here, and just not worry about the winter till it gets here :-)

friends, Joan, Marsha and Carole
F16's, right after take off..
At St. Joseph's State Park

Paul
The final sunset of January

Well, January was NOT the best of months down here. This years weather leaves much to be desired, BUT I am thankful that we are able to be here.

We did a LOT of card playing and Wii game playing. Locals here say this is the worst weather since the 40's, I can believe it. We have been coming here since 1996 and I don't ever remember such a prolonged period of really rotten weather.

The highlight of the month was a trip to St. Joseph's peninsula State Park, one of my favorites. We also stopped at my favorite little shop in Mexico Beach. I got another bird for the yard at home.

We are now into February, which always goes fast, and hopefully we will get some sun :-), it would be terrible to go home with less tan than I came with.

I am still holding out about cutting my hair, some days I feel like a slob, but I will not cut it till I get home.

I have managed to put on 5 pounds, even with walking every day, sometime twice a day. That will take some working on when I get back to the Y.

We have v-chatted with the kids, one of the greatest inventions ever!, It is so nice to talk to all of them, kids, grand kids and great grand kids. Ain't technology great?

Not looking forward to the drive home, but it is a necessary evil of the trip. Will try to update this again before we leave.

New years Eve fireworks

The view I look at while doing dishes

Paul and I at the park in St Andrews, it was COLD

Shooting dice on New years Eve :-)

L-R, Marsha, Paul, Ron, Carole, KR, Bob, Luis, Judy

Another week gone and it has been COLD! Everyone gives me a bad time about complaining about the cold BUT, it is NOT supposed to be 26 degrees in Florida!

Because of the cold we haven't been doing much. We play cards a lot and when the North wind isn't blowing we go for walks. No pool time with these temps.

We ventured off to a place in AL that just opened a casino, not impressed. Did find a place called "Skins and Bubba's" that had some really good food. I am not kidding about the name. The food was Delicious, the name was a hoot!

Friend KR celebrated his 69Th birthday last night so we all went out to eat. I swear I eat more meals out down here than any other time. I will have to really put in extra time at the Y when we get back.

It is good to see our regular gang and we have added a couple more friends to the mix.

We miss the kids and friends at home and have decided that next year we will revert back to our 2 month stay. 4 months is too long.

Here is hoping the weather gets warmer for ALL of us. Talk next week

2010

Son in Law Tom and great grandson, Grady

Great grandson Gavin with Daughter Dee and Son in Law Tom

A cypress swamp, right in the middle of town, Blountstowm, FL
A friendly dice game, New Years Eve 2009

Fireworks off the pier, 12:07 am, Jan. 1, 2010

Happy New Year everyone. We are on the downward side of our winter trip. The November weather was spectacular, December was OK but not as good as usual. We are hoping that Jan. and Feb. will be better.

We have also decided that 4 months is too long, so we will go back to 2 months next year (if we get to do this again)

We had a wonderful Christmas with Dee and her family. I am totally shopped out! No one can shop for and find bargains like my Daughter Dee.

We have been doing the video chat thing with the whole family and it so great. On Christmas Day we got to watch Ann's boys tear into Christmas and it was almost like being there. Paul and son Bob chat weekly and talk about, what else, FOOTBALL! We highly recommend this to everyone.

When we got back here, the friends from WI started arriving, we are all here safe and sound and very happy to see each other.

There are 3 of the couples in our complex and the other couple is up the road a little.

We all got together to celebrate the new year and do what we do best, eat, laugh and play games. This year it was DICE!

It is starting out cloudy this morning, I hope this is not a harbinger of the next 2 months :-)

That is it for this week, I am really doing well at keeping this thing up!

I guess I'll try and get in a walk before the morning gets away from me.

The beautiful beaches...from the St Andrew's Park Pier
Paul, checking things out on St. Andrews Bay

A beautiful rainbow, in the morning. It was truly awesome
Daughter Dee's Santa collection, or part of it

Son in Law, Tom, Daughter Dee, Paul and myself at a brunch in Ft. Myers

Dateline Ft. Myers/Cape Coral, FL. December 21, 2009

We are at our Daughter's for the holidays. We drove down here on Thurs. and Fri. of last week to spend the Christmas week with them.

We drove down in 2 days this time (we usually do it in one) because it was raining in Panama City Beach and we thought we might hit better weather farther south-WRONG! It is cold all the way to the Keys! Thank you, Northern Folks! :-)

We stopped in a town called Cross City, FL. NOT the garden spot of the state, but it was getting dark, raining and we were tired. Went to a place called the Cypress Inn for a bite to eat and we were the only folks in the place NOT dressed in Camo wear! Lordy, but we can pick them. Paul keeps telling me he takes me to all the best places. It is scary and I think he lies!

We spent the week before coming down here wandering around with friends that we met, Bill and Carolyn, they had never been around the area of Panama City Beach, so Paul and I took them to the parks and museums and then we played lots of cards. Fun!

We will be with Dee and Tom for this week and then it is back up the State of Florida for the rest of the winter. Sure hope it warms up, although I guess we should just be quiet, it is NOT snowing and it is above freezing :)

Hope you all have a Merry and Blessed Christmas and a joyful New Year.

I'll post again when we get back to our own place.

This is it for Christmas decorations, I love it

The end of another stormy day

The 25,000 gallon "fish tank" at our favorite restaraunt.

We get beautiful sunsets...with gunships (Navy)

Another week is gone and before I know it Christmas will be here. It has been a stormy December and we have not gotten outside too much. In between storms I go down to the pool and try some water exercises and then hit the hot tub. It feels really good on the aching joints :-)

Because of the weather we have been pretty much building bound, I will grant you, it is a BIG building, so it isn't too bad. There are lots of folks staying here, some long term like ourselves, and some short term.

We have played bingo, Wii bowling, reading and when we can get out without blowing away or getting soaked, we have gone shopping (me) and gone for walks, (me). Paul goes along and reads on the shopping thing and he goes for walks at his own pace.

I must admit, even with the rain and clouds it is a beautiful spot to be stuck indoors, because the sea is beautiful even in a storm! I am so happy to be here, and not fighting the snowstorm that hit back home.

Yesterday a friend invited us to go to a little old, out of the way joint for a bar-b-cue sandwich.

Well, let me tell you, this place was REALLY no more than a shed on the side of the road, with a double wide next door, about 20 miles north, in the middle of nowhere. The owner was very nice, the place was a joke as far as "eating establishments" go. No sanitary rules involved. No bathrooms on the premises, if you wanted to wash your hands before eating, you went into the kitchen to the "hand washing sink", the toilet was in a gas station, 1/2 a mile up the road. Food was served on what looked to me like lightweight parchment paper or (Cole slaw) in a Styrofoam bowl. The food was tasty, but Paul's stomach screamed at him all night. The sauce was deadly, even the "mild" version. I did not have my camera with me, but if we go up that way again, I will take a picture.

We are very amused by the "southern" or "Florida" way of doing things and whenever someone asks "what are they thinking" you just remind yourself of where you are :-) I don't know how this "joint" gets past food service rules, or even IF the are inspected. We both survived the night with no food poisoning but I don't know that I would risk the place again!

Last night Paul took part in an inter-active murder mystery put on by the activities dept. I didn't go, I was tired and achy. He said it was great fun and he enjoyed himself. Another missed Kodak moment.

Stormy Skies

The "Beach Patrol", looking for food

Ashley and some of the "BINGO" folks. Ashley works for Wyndham Resorts.

Friday, Dec.4, 2009

It has been a stormy week. We have had fronts going through here like mad, warm fronts from the gulf and cold fronts from the North and they have all been meeting right over the panhandle of FL. The cold snap up home has dropped all the way to Florida, NOT great. We have had high surf warnings, tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings. It can quit anytime now.

The sea has rearranged itself a couple of times this week and I never know where the sand bars are going to be one day to the next.

We have been pretty much house bound. We have done some running around the town and gotten some last minute Christmas shopping done.

We play BINGO a couple of times a week and we learned how to use the Wii, we both like Wii bowling and may invest in a Wii system when we get home.

We went to see the movie "Blind Side", it is a really good movie. I felt good after leaving the theatre.

I try to get in some form of exercise 3 times a week, but must admit to slacking :-)

That is about all that has gone on this week, not real exciting, but I AM doing the blog each week, as promised :-)

Talk next week.

Some friends from MN are supposed to get in today or tomorrow, it will be good to see someone from home.