Wednesday

It cooled down overnight into the low 50's and with a stiff northern breeze made it feel down right cold in the shaded areas. The sun was bright and lots of blue skies but comfortable out of the wind. The morning started out the usual with a fowl symphony around 5'ish, then a cup of hot green tea while I did my quiet time and a bowl of fruit salad before riding out to the rec for a couple hours of pickle ball. We had a new couple visiting from the Chicago area who we enjoyed playing with and really had a fun day with lots of players coming and going. I did about 2 hours and then this cough came back so I headed out to the library to pick up a couple reads.

After getting home I hand watered the back yard gardens, Nancy decided we needed to make a Sam's run so we did that all before lunch. I also stopped by Home Depot for some D-Con as the fruit rats are now starting to chomp into my green tomato's and ruining them. I found a half dozen or more with their teeth marks. We stopped by her folks house and checked on that as well. After a lite lunch of salad from the garden I got ready to shampoo the carpets through out the house. It had been awhile since that last happened, but what a difference it makes afterwards. Grand babies have a way of slipping out of the kitchen with snacks and invariably spill or drop goodies from time to time on the carpet, anyhow that took the rest of the afternoon and the results were great.

We hand picked up a whole pork tenderloin at Sam's so I sliced a couple end pieces off for stir fry for supper and cut the rest into roasts for later suppers. We will do one for the New Years Day feast along with some bean soup and hopefully collard greens. We have invited Bobby and Amy with their families and the Botbyl's. It should be another day of over eating and family fun, maybe I should have waited until that feast was over before doing the carpets, anyhow! I picked fresh sugar peas and some broccoli from the garden which we added celery, onion, fresh asparagus, and mushrooms to the cut up pork that I was sauteing in olive oil with fresh squeezed garlic. Nancy had a pot of Jasmine rice cooking. We spooned this concoction to the top of the rice and added some soy sauce and my oh my what a dewisheous dish and very good for you. After the clean up we got ready to head to Tampa to pick up Amy, Tyler, Ava and Sam who were flying in from Kansas. They had been on the road since 7 AM and the kids were exhausted. It was good to see them again and love them up; Sam kept looking at us as if he remembered us but wasn't quite sure from where. Ava had grown taller and prettier as well. The whole family had a new haircut which made them all look older as well. Tyler's sister, Kelsy is a beautician and fixed them all up with adorable hair cuts.

I learned when I got back from helping the kids back to their house that a fellow trooper friend of mine had passed on. Seems he had a patrol car crash in October and never recovered. Trooper Bill Dyer was just a young man in life years and I don't think he left an immediate family other than his folks. The passing of someone you know especially a younger person always reminds you of how precarious life can be.

Well its supposed to be down into the 40's for Thursday with highs of only being in the 60's. Now that's Florida winter weather. I picked up some bush green beans seeds and planted them yesterday as my 1/2 runners seem to do better in the mountains. Tyler's bush beans are just going crazy and mature rather fast so I decided not to plant runners anymore down here in Florida. Nancy spoke with her folks today and her dad is quickly filling up with fluid once again as its now reached beyond his lower extremities and now is into his mid section. He still refuses to go to the hospital and says he wants to remain at home. He definitely needs some prayers.LATER