That's a lot of Sand

Well Thanksgiving is behind us and we had a very nice holiday with Cousin Mary and Pat, Spikey, Joey, Mojo and DeDe.  Weather was great, dinner from Publix (Coborns-like store) was very good and easy; fruity Sangria from Mary, and lots of pie, Pat made two, a five berry pie and apple, both delich.  We had a Publix pumpkin struessel that we are still working on.  Working on leftovers too.  They get better everyday but I'm getting turkeyed out.  At least Mojo and DeDe are happy, they love leftovers.

On Friday, we headed to Fort Myers Beach which is about 10 miles away.  They had the World Champion Sand Sculpture Competition and it was truly awesome.  Please see my Facebook page for all the photos, took so many, one was better than the next.  And as you can see from the photos, it was very nice out.   Lots of vendors, music, a regular event and something I am glad we took the time to see.  Lots of people from the Netherlands were in the competition.  I didn't even know they had sand there.  As you can see, Gary and Pat found the one sculpture that forgot some clothing. The sculptor must have got tired.

Check out Facebook when you have a chance.  I think I can figure that out later today.  See ya, M.

Don't you love Turkey Day?

Let's eat.  Yesterday there was a 700+ pound woman on Dr. Phil.  This has really got me thinking about serving salad with a side of carrots today. This woman won the Guiness World Record for Heaviest Woman Alive. This is quite an honor. The only place she went on her scooter was the grocery store.  They must love when she comes in.  Anyway, just something to think about when you're overeating today.

We have some before and after pix to post.  Gary started on the front patio last Thursday and finished on Monday.  We had the tiles sitting in the garage so that cut a lot of time.  It was pretty hot out there so he had to wait for shade to work.  I stayed in the shade and  read a book, played on the Ipad and watched Dr. Phil.  Somebody has to keep track of these world records.  Thank you Dr. Phil.

Enjoy and have a great holiday...Margaret

DeDe's Back...

Why can't I write the blog anymore?  Today I get a turn to write and I have so much to say.  First of all, what is  up with Mojo.  Everyone who sees her can't get over the "spots" she has.  WTF? They're spots.  Of course, it goes right to Mojo's head, she's like the Kim Kardasian of dogs, she gets all the attention for doing absolutely nothing.

So Cousin Mary and her dogs came over yesterday for the day.  While Mary, Pat and their friend, Annette, went house hunting in Cape Coral, Spikey and Joey stayed here.  It was so hot we all just laid in the shade.  And then they came back and had some sloppy joes and beans that Mary brought.  Not a good combination for mama.  Dada ended up on the couch all nite, Mojo under the covers and me almost falling off the end of the bed.  We knew it was going to be bad when we saw those beans come out and mama had seconds.  But there was nothing we could do to stop her.  The only one who slept good was mama.  Damn those beans.

Dada is done with the trees in back.  For now. The shade is so nice esp since we have a heat wave going on down here.  Its been hot hot hot since we got here, 80s every day.  MN is cold we hear, teens as highs.  Maybe send a little down here?  Maybe not.

Ok, I feel better now, back to laying around and doing nothing.  Its what I live for.....happy tails, DeDe.

PS-Got my first haircut yesterday but still no spots.

Everybody in the Hot Tub!!!

Well after lots of discussion and searches on Craigslist we bit the bullet and got ourselves a hot tub.  This is a first for us.  I wanted it for sore muscles and relaxing, Gary has other ideas.  Dave and Joyce were selling it due to "health" reasons.  Not sure what that means, they looked pretty healthy to me.  He's a former cop in Illinois so he must be honest, right?  She was from Rhode Island and she is a first for me.  I never really met anyone from RI before and it is like speaking a whole different language.  Really had to pay attention and I'm still not sure what she said.  I think she was nice.

Gary and some guys were able to get it in the trailer at Dave's house, Gary got it home okay and then we waited for some Mexican guys who were delivering trees to us to come over and help.  (Of course we would give them a tip to help us get it off the trailer and on to the lanai. They don't do anything without a tip.)  But apparently we had our days mixed up cause they never showed up.  They said Saturday but not which Saturday. Maybe they'll show up in January, who knows. Does this remind me of another place and time?  Oh yes.  I think I mentioned Gary has the patience of a pigeon and that is being kind, more like a flea.  So after waiting and waiting, he decided he was going to take the hot tub off the trailer himself!!!  I absolutely refused to get involved and gave him the cell phone to call an ambulance if he tried it himself.  Long story short, some neighbors finally helped us and it went into the lanai slick as anything.  And we are loving it.  We tried it out already, how did we live without this thing?

PS - Please sign up for updates on the blog now.  Thanks Jill.  If anyone else needs help with computer stuff, I know somebody....

PSS - Go Vikes.

Stop and Smell the Shorts

Its been a great first week here, we have been busy re-acclimating to the area and the climate.  Its hard to remember everything and since the car we have is small and was filled to the brim, Gary decided he didn't need to bring many clothes from MN.  He thought he had plenty once we got here.  Of course, he was wrong and as you can see, his best pair of shorts would give a homeless guy nightmares.  Luckily we are not invited to many places where he needs to dress up and if he wears these shorts in public, we definitely won't be invited anywhere. But just in case we actually have to go out in public, Gary asked me to get him some shorts.  Now being cheap and loving thrift shops, I was on it.  The problem is that Gary is the same size as almost everyone else that shops at thrift shops.  I was able to get him 5 pairs of shorts after much searching but in order to make this easier on me next time, I asked him to either lose weight at get to a size 30 or gain some and get to a 40.  He seems to be eating more now.

Gary has already had 3 new trees planted in the back yard.  Our next door neighbor thinks Gary is nuts to be adding trees. He should see our place in MN! Apparently Sal doesn't like trees. Who hates trees?  His name is Sal but we call him Salamander for a variety of reasons.  So just to piss him off, Gary is having 3 more trees put in the back yard today.  I think he might even wear some new shorts too.

One more thing, my friend Jill is going to add a doodad to this blog so you can get automatic updates.  I tried doing it myself but after hours of stomping around the house, slamming the computer around and swearing in complete sentences, it just wouldn't work so Jill will take care of it for me.  Now why didn't I think of that first?   Keeping it real....Margaret

Here We Are and There You Are

It was a hectic Friday when we left Minnesota.  Gary has the patience of a pigeon and so when he says go, we go.  We made it to Champaign, IL the first nite.  We found a LaQuinta.  They take dogs and so we asked for the cheapest room they had and we got 2 double beds for the nite.  We are used to a big king sized bed so a double is like a cot and when you throw 2 dogs in that must sleep right smack in the middle of the bed, it leaves us with a corner to hang off of.  No worries, we were up before dark and out of the hotel before 5 am.  No free breakfast for us.  They didn't even have coffee made.  There must be coffee or we ain't going nowhere.  So Gary found a crappy little c-store by the hotel, we woke up the clerk and asked him to put the coffee machine on.  This took him a while to figure out after he pulled his pants up.  He was about 20 and of course being a chick magnet, he had to wear his pants down to his knees.  What is up with that anyway?  Could we have a new president that passes a law that you must wear your pants up high and no underwear can show?  Maybe Michelle Bachman can use that for her campaign cause that is the only way she could possibly win.  At least we don't have to hear about her sorry ass down here much.  We really miss her.  NOT.

So anyway, it was really dark, we got coffee and headed south.  We got a little turned around when we left Mr. Underpants and headed south on a highway instead of the freeway but we were able to find the freeway again after about one hour.  Gary says its my fault, I am pretty sure its his.  I was going to ask Mr. Underpants for directions but when I saw he had such a tough time with the coffee maker I figured he couldn't find his car out in the lot much less a freeway.  

We found another LaQuinta in Macon, Georgia after about 12 hours on the road.  We all fell out of the car and had a wonderful supper of chicken wings and beer in bed.   We were going to go out but none of us could get back in that car.  Then we were off again Sunday morning for another 8 hours on the road to Cape Coral.  We made it about 1 pm and all is well so far.  There were a few bugs on the floor, we forgot to leave the frig open so that was disgusting but nothing a little soap and vinegar couldn't fix.

We're back, its in the 80s everyday and all's green.  Mojo and DeDe want a break from writing this year, not enough dog treats last year, they are being babies.  That just lets me write crap about them.  We'll see who gets the last dog biscuit!  Hope you enjoy our time together again, keep in touch and comments are always welcome, esp. nice ones.  Keeping it real....Margaret