Well it was another N.C.morning with cool temps, bright sunshine and blue skies. This day was a little bit different as we had our house church get together and no formal gathering for worship. We all brought some food for a brunch then had a great time of prayer before getting ready to head out to Tampa for a 1 o'clock meeting for field day. Well the day was a blast with lots of competition between the individual house Church's with all kinds of games such as ; roll the potato with your nose, sweep a lemon, tug of war, fill the bucket, pass the life saver, biting an apple on a string and run with an orange between your knees. It was a fun afternoon right across from the University of Tampa campus on the Hillsborough river. This park was right in the middle of down town Tampa's high rise office buildings. I had no idea this place existed. We were there from about 1 PM until after 4:30. Fun time with lots of fun people. Our house church had a lot of last minute no shows I believe 6 in total so we came in 4th out of 8 teams; not bad for only 8 adults showing up to compete, it was totally a beautiful day.
Our brunch had us eating scrambled eggs, fresh baked biscuits and french toast with juice. The lunch at the picnic featured grilled dogs and many side dishes. After getting back to Pinellas we decided as Dan and Carol rode with us that we would pull a supper, so we had black beans and rice, chicken fajitas, salsa, salad and some kale chips. Once again we out did ourselves. We stayed around and played golf for 18 rounds before calling it a night at 9PM. LATER
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday on Sunday morning
Well here I am again with an update on the clock, this Sunday morning we lost that hour due to daylight savings time. Anyhow back to Saturday. Wow was it a nippy one with temps down into the high 30's and even patchy frost not an hour away to the north from us. It was such a N.C. morning and stayed that way most of the day. No humidity, bright sunshine and deep blue skies. Fantastic, now if it would only stay this way until next October, I know I'm dreaming but yikes it will be hard to forget days like this when the temp's are in the 90' plus and dripping sweat by just walking out side. Oh well!!!
After spending most of the morning in bed, it was after 9 o'clock when we got out of bed, of course the feathered alarm made his presence know at the usual 5 AM awakening but I rolled over. After arising and my spot of tea and quiet time perused the many video's of the earthquake and tsunami damage in Japan. Unbelievable anyone could survive that wall of water as it moved onto the land. I sure hope my friend Mitsuko was not visiting anyone in the northern part of her country. I sent her an e-mail but no response as of yet. Keep her and all of Japan in your thoughts and prayers. I had the privilege to visit Japan while in the military several times during my 7 years of flying in the Viet Nam war. Japan is really a lovely country and I found most of the people were very accommodating. So sad to see such devastation.
Nancy and took off on an extended walk through the neighborhood and it was just beautiful with just enough chill in the air to make it pleasant for power walking. I also got in a good bike ride earlier in the day and learned an old friend had passed away at the age of 94. After the bike ride I watered the gardens then we had leftover cold meatloaf sandwiches for lunch and my were they ever good with some Duke's mayo and onion on pita bread. There goes that spare tire again, oh well.
Tonight we were celebrating Nancy's birthday with a dinner prepared by GG and Amy and brought to our house. We have a dishwater(me) and more play things for the grand babies plus GG and Pap are getting on up there in years and its just too much for them to handle a large crowd for meals. So we are the designated house for family dinners. We had roast pork, kielbasa and Nathan hot dogs in sauerkraut, smashed spuds and a fresh garden salad with homemade Greek and ranch dressings and GG also made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I passed on the dessert one again but made up for it with the sauerkraut. YUMM!!!
After they left I watched a little college basketball before cutting the lights off. Today(Sunday) we are having our house church meeting then off to Tampa for our church field day in a park in down town Tampa. We are raising money for a village in Ethiopia, Africa that one of our house churches has adopted, should be a fun day and the temperature is delightful. LATER
After spending most of the morning in bed, it was after 9 o'clock when we got out of bed, of course the feathered alarm made his presence know at the usual 5 AM awakening but I rolled over. After arising and my spot of tea and quiet time perused the many video's of the earthquake and tsunami damage in Japan. Unbelievable anyone could survive that wall of water as it moved onto the land. I sure hope my friend Mitsuko was not visiting anyone in the northern part of her country. I sent her an e-mail but no response as of yet. Keep her and all of Japan in your thoughts and prayers. I had the privilege to visit Japan while in the military several times during my 7 years of flying in the Viet Nam war. Japan is really a lovely country and I found most of the people were very accommodating. So sad to see such devastation.
Nancy and took off on an extended walk through the neighborhood and it was just beautiful with just enough chill in the air to make it pleasant for power walking. I also got in a good bike ride earlier in the day and learned an old friend had passed away at the age of 94. After the bike ride I watered the gardens then we had leftover cold meatloaf sandwiches for lunch and my were they ever good with some Duke's mayo and onion on pita bread. There goes that spare tire again, oh well.
Tonight we were celebrating Nancy's birthday with a dinner prepared by GG and Amy and brought to our house. We have a dishwater(me) and more play things for the grand babies plus GG and Pap are getting on up there in years and its just too much for them to handle a large crowd for meals. So we are the designated house for family dinners. We had roast pork, kielbasa and Nathan hot dogs in sauerkraut, smashed spuds and a fresh garden salad with homemade Greek and ranch dressings and GG also made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I passed on the dessert one again but made up for it with the sauerkraut. YUMM!!!
After they left I watched a little college basketball before cutting the lights off. Today(Sunday) we are having our house church meeting then off to Tampa for our church field day in a park in down town Tampa. We are raising money for a village in Ethiopia, Africa that one of our house churches has adopted, should be a fun day and the temperature is delightful. LATER
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday on Saturday
Well this will be another date in history that will be remembered forever especially in Japan. The earthquake and tsunami that followed devastated that island nation. The untold number of deaths and the loss of property is just unimaginable. I have a close pickle ball pardner and friend who just went back there a couple weeks ago to visit her aging mother, we are certainly hoping she and her family are alright.
The morning started out here in Florida with rather unseasonably cold temp's down into the 40's, bright sunny skies but a strong northern wind which kept it cold all day. Amy and the kids came for lunch so we just chilled, playing with them until after they headed out for their afternoon naps then we took off on foot for a long walk through the hood. Afterwards I helped with getting ready for our neighbors Dan and Carol for supper.
Nancy put together a large meat loaf with half of the meat being venison as well a pot of home grown 1/2 runners and I pulled my very first home grown parsnips. I peeled them and quartered them into a glass bowl with a little olive oil and sea salt then put them in with the baking meat loaf for about 45 minutes, wow were they ever good. I also pick a bunch of new lettuce, spinach, radishes, dill and basil for the salad as well. Carol brought some twice baked spuds so we had a feast. They commented how tasty the meat loaf was so I then told them the secret ingredient of "mountain grown deer"and they were quite pleased. Thanks again to Andy for the great meat and his excellent method of processing it. I would eat deer only for red meat if it were available of course that was one of our stables when I grew up on the farm in Virginia as Paw Paw kept us in deer year round. After eating we played a couple card games and called it an early evening as Dan had to get up to drive to Jacksonville the next morning(Sat) for the Gator Nationals drag races.
Well not much else is going on except there is another family dinner here tomorrow(Sat) as we celebrate Nancy's 54 th birthday with roast pork, sauerkraut and smashed spuds for supper, there goes that spare tire pump blowing up my belly fat once again. LATER
The morning started out here in Florida with rather unseasonably cold temp's down into the 40's, bright sunny skies but a strong northern wind which kept it cold all day. Amy and the kids came for lunch so we just chilled, playing with them until after they headed out for their afternoon naps then we took off on foot for a long walk through the hood. Afterwards I helped with getting ready for our neighbors Dan and Carol for supper.
Nancy put together a large meat loaf with half of the meat being venison as well a pot of home grown 1/2 runners and I pulled my very first home grown parsnips. I peeled them and quartered them into a glass bowl with a little olive oil and sea salt then put them in with the baking meat loaf for about 45 minutes, wow were they ever good. I also pick a bunch of new lettuce, spinach, radishes, dill and basil for the salad as well. Carol brought some twice baked spuds so we had a feast. They commented how tasty the meat loaf was so I then told them the secret ingredient of "mountain grown deer"and they were quite pleased. Thanks again to Andy for the great meat and his excellent method of processing it. I would eat deer only for red meat if it were available of course that was one of our stables when I grew up on the farm in Virginia as Paw Paw kept us in deer year round. After eating we played a couple card games and called it an early evening as Dan had to get up to drive to Jacksonville the next morning(Sat) for the Gator Nationals drag races.
Well not much else is going on except there is another family dinner here tomorrow(Sat) as we celebrate Nancy's 54 th birthday with roast pork, sauerkraut and smashed spuds for supper, there goes that spare tire pump blowing up my belly fat once again. LATER
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday
Well around 5 AM this morning a front passed through our area and the thunder, lightning and heavy rain hit and lasted until late morning. The road in front of the house looked like a river with the heavy runoff of rain. That was the first real rainfall in several weeks and maybe even a month or so, wow did we ever need that. There was no chance to workout at the rec as its closed until Monday, bummer!!! Any how I ate a fresh home grown orange from Amy and Tyler's tree then a banana for breakfast after our quiet times.
I just hung out in the house reading and waiting until it cleared off enough to head out side. Amy and the kids came for lunch so we finished the left over soups and the spinach dip from last nights house church. They hung around until after 2PM watching the series Avonlee. After they headed home for their afternoon naps Nancy and I got ready to do about an hour walk through the hood. The temps had really dropped with the north wind so she had on a jacket plus long sleeved sweat shirt and long pants. I didn't think it was nearly that cold so I only added a flannel shirt over the tee shirt and shorts. It was a great walk with no humidity.
After getting back I pulled radishes, picked green beans and cut Swiss chard and kale for supper all except the beans which we will eat tomorrow. Amy and the kids came for supper as Tyler was teaching ESL at SFBC. I made a first time treat for us with fresh home grown kale called kale chips. My were they ever delicious and easy to make. I took about 10-12 kale stalks and cut the center stem out and separated the leaves into bite pieces, then after making sure they were dry I took a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a little apple cider vinegar and mixed together then added the kale pieces and tossed them. Not to heavy on the oil but just enough coat them, I then sprinkled a lite coating of sea salt on the leaves and placed them in the oven at 425 for about 10-12 minutes on a cookie sheet. Wow were they ever crispy and delicious. Sam loved them as well and we ate all of them before setting down to supper. You can also add a little garlic salt, cumin and cayenne pepper if desired. They were delicious and I understand you can use beet greens, Swiss chard and even collards.
Nancy had some oven taters baking and along with the baked fish sticks and sauteed Swiss chard we had an excellent supper. Sam went crazy over the kale chips, greens and fish. Yikes what a good supper and Nancy made homemade tarter sauce to go with the fish. Well after supper and the kids bath they headed for home around 8 PM. Nancy is now glued to American Idol. Wow it's supposed to head down into the 40's tonight, I never would have thought we would see these low temp's this time of the year. Well spring training baseball is in the area so it won't be long until the regular season begins. We saw where one of our favorite Ray's player signed with the Red Sox and was back in the area to play against his old teammates, Oh well!!! LATER
I just hung out in the house reading and waiting until it cleared off enough to head out side. Amy and the kids came for lunch so we finished the left over soups and the spinach dip from last nights house church. They hung around until after 2PM watching the series Avonlee. After they headed home for their afternoon naps Nancy and I got ready to do about an hour walk through the hood. The temps had really dropped with the north wind so she had on a jacket plus long sleeved sweat shirt and long pants. I didn't think it was nearly that cold so I only added a flannel shirt over the tee shirt and shorts. It was a great walk with no humidity.
After getting back I pulled radishes, picked green beans and cut Swiss chard and kale for supper all except the beans which we will eat tomorrow. Amy and the kids came for supper as Tyler was teaching ESL at SFBC. I made a first time treat for us with fresh home grown kale called kale chips. My were they ever delicious and easy to make. I took about 10-12 kale stalks and cut the center stem out and separated the leaves into bite pieces, then after making sure they were dry I took a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a little apple cider vinegar and mixed together then added the kale pieces and tossed them. Not to heavy on the oil but just enough coat them, I then sprinkled a lite coating of sea salt on the leaves and placed them in the oven at 425 for about 10-12 minutes on a cookie sheet. Wow were they ever crispy and delicious. Sam loved them as well and we ate all of them before setting down to supper. You can also add a little garlic salt, cumin and cayenne pepper if desired. They were delicious and I understand you can use beet greens, Swiss chard and even collards.
Nancy had some oven taters baking and along with the baked fish sticks and sauteed Swiss chard we had an excellent supper. Sam went crazy over the kale chips, greens and fish. Yikes what a good supper and Nancy made homemade tarter sauce to go with the fish. Well after supper and the kids bath they headed for home around 8 PM. Nancy is now glued to American Idol. Wow it's supposed to head down into the 40's tonight, I never would have thought we would see these low temp's this time of the year. Well spring training baseball is in the area so it won't be long until the regular season begins. We saw where one of our favorite Ray's player signed with the Red Sox and was back in the area to play against his old teammates, Oh well!!! LATER
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wednesday
Wow another gorgeous morning with lots of sunshine and a strong wind all day long. The temps reached the middle 80's, but the humidity is once more back in the area so the a/c is on once again. After a wake up call from the rooster I did my quiet time and had a bowl of oatmeal before pedalling out to the rec for what was the final pickle ball play this week. It seems with the Pow Wow festival this week end; the rec is shut down which doesn't make sense to me but what can you do. Any how we had some great play and tons of wet shirts with about 15 players total, but the first hour was exceptionally good play from 8 players. I did a hundred crunches afterwards and jumped on the scales for a weight check. I'm still maintaining a loss of about 4-6 pounds as it fluctuates almost daily.
After getting home from the workout I hand watered the gardens then had a salad for an early lunch. After lunch I headed over to put up a new mailbox for our widowed neighbor lady then did some touch up painting. Nancy took off to get her hair colored and cut while I caught up on some reading.
We were having house church tonight at our house so once again I did the vacuuming while Nancy put together a dip and made brownies. We had 14 adults and 7 kids. We had leftover vegetable beef soup for supper. Well not much else is going, LATER
After getting home from the workout I hand watered the gardens then had a salad for an early lunch. After lunch I headed over to put up a new mailbox for our widowed neighbor lady then did some touch up painting. Nancy took off to get her hair colored and cut while I caught up on some reading.
We were having house church tonight at our house so once again I did the vacuuming while Nancy put together a dip and made brownies. We had 14 adults and 7 kids. We had leftover vegetable beef soup for supper. Well not much else is going, LATER
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday
Well for some reason the feathered alarm clock next door was either on vacation, slept in or was some how incapacitated cause my alarm went off at 6:30 and I was still in the sack, oh what a good feeling to be awaken at a normal time. Anyhow after my usual quiet time and breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries, banana and strawberries I pedalled out to the rec for some pickle ball. Wow we had some very good play for the whole 2 1/2 hours and by the time 10 AM rolled around I was ready for a break. I stopped off at the weight room and did a hundred crunches before stopping off at the library for a read I had on hold.
After getting home I set the sprinkler on the new grass seed before getting out the rake and working on the back yard. I raked up about a 1/2 dozen large black bags of leaves and added them to the couple dozen or so of bags of leaves I had stored up to put on my garden when we leave for the mountains in May. These leaves will eventually turn to soil as the worms do their thing and will help during the hottest part of summer to hold moisture.
Nancy was busy baking blueberry pies and getting 2 kinds of soup ready for our birthday celebration supper tonight. We were having a vegetable beef soup along with a Zuppa soup with a fresh garden salad in recognition of Jill's birthday. Once again the food was delicious and I passed on dessert, boy was that hard to do but after seeing some positive results of weight loss I'm only too happy to refrain from eating all that sugar. The kids and grand babies stayed until nearly 9 PM. After their bath times I'm sure they were asleep by the time they got home. LATER
After getting home I set the sprinkler on the new grass seed before getting out the rake and working on the back yard. I raked up about a 1/2 dozen large black bags of leaves and added them to the couple dozen or so of bags of leaves I had stored up to put on my garden when we leave for the mountains in May. These leaves will eventually turn to soil as the worms do their thing and will help during the hottest part of summer to hold moisture.
Nancy was busy baking blueberry pies and getting 2 kinds of soup ready for our birthday celebration supper tonight. We were having a vegetable beef soup along with a Zuppa soup with a fresh garden salad in recognition of Jill's birthday. Once again the food was delicious and I passed on dessert, boy was that hard to do but after seeing some positive results of weight loss I'm only too happy to refrain from eating all that sugar. The kids and grand babies stayed until nearly 9 PM. After their bath times I'm sure they were asleep by the time they got home. LATER
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday
Well this morning as I rode out to the rec after my quiet times and the usual bowl of oatmeat with a little fruit for pickle ball I had to put on a long sleeve shirt, yikes this is the second week in March and usually by this time of the year we have the a/c cranked up until the end of October. I love it but I'm sure these temps won't be around much longer although last night around 9 PM we got a call from Winchester and they were having snow falling after having 73 degree temps the day before. Wow whats is going on with these crazy temps!!!
We had a great workout this morning at the rec the first 1/2 hour or so before the general players arrived. I did have a soaken wet shirt and by 10 AM I was ready for a break. After pickle ball I stopped by the weight room for a 100 crunches and a weight in, Wow I'm down a couple more pounds with only about 5 more to go. I've noticed the belly fat is shrinking and I'm totally delerious about this occurrence. Well I stopped by the library to pick up a read before heading home to water the gardens. I then pedalled over to Amy's and picked some of their romaine lettuce which is starting to go to seed to mix in with my bibb lettuce which is starting to mature. Wow there is nothing like home grown lettuce.
After a fresh garden salad for lunch I worked out in the back yard digging weeds, raking and planting new grass seeds until it was time to pull beets, cut broccoli and pick sugar peas for supper. What a super tasting supper with these fresh veggie's when accompanied by a chicken breast on the grill loaded with fresh rosemary. Good eatin'!!!
Well not much else is going on so LATER.
We had a great workout this morning at the rec the first 1/2 hour or so before the general players arrived. I did have a soaken wet shirt and by 10 AM I was ready for a break. After pickle ball I stopped by the weight room for a 100 crunches and a weight in, Wow I'm down a couple more pounds with only about 5 more to go. I've noticed the belly fat is shrinking and I'm totally delerious about this occurrence. Well I stopped by the library to pick up a read before heading home to water the gardens. I then pedalled over to Amy's and picked some of their romaine lettuce which is starting to go to seed to mix in with my bibb lettuce which is starting to mature. Wow there is nothing like home grown lettuce.
After a fresh garden salad for lunch I worked out in the back yard digging weeds, raking and planting new grass seeds until it was time to pull beets, cut broccoli and pick sugar peas for supper. What a super tasting supper with these fresh veggie's when accompanied by a chicken breast on the grill loaded with fresh rosemary. Good eatin'!!!
Well not much else is going on so LATER.
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