Sunday

Just a little about another beautiful day weather wise in the Sunshine State. We are happy to hear our cabin friends are finally getting some warm, sunny days with temps in the 60's. Our morning started out the usual with temps down into the high 40's but quickly moved upwards as the sunshine warmed the air to the middle 70's and no northern breeze which actually made it feel warmer. After our quiet time and oatmeal with fruit for breakfast we got ready to travel to Tampa for worship with son, Bobby at Element Church.

This Sunday was the blood drive Sunday and the area was in dire need of O positive and negative blood as much was used to try and save the lives of 2 St.Pete officers who were gunned down last week and eventually died.We watched some of the funeral services on T.V. and what a testament the wife of one officer had in her strong faith. Anyhow, Nancy and I both gave blood along with others who were still giving as we left after the service. We took granddaughter Annsley with us to her house where we spent the rest of the day until about 8 o'clock.

We brought a large fresh salad from home then shared some of Bob's very tasty smoked pork butt from his get together with Jill's family the night before for lunch. It was very good and he eventually decided to make burgers along with sweet potato fries for supper after he got back from the orphan home later in the evening. My those were great burgers and fries as well. We spent the afternoon playing and loving up on Gabey and Annsley. It was a fun family day as well a day to give thanks through our worship. LATER

Saturday

Well it was a gorgeous day here in sunny Florida, finally. After our quiet times and a mountain breakfast of leftover 'taters that we fried with a couple eggs, Yumm. That held us until early afternoon when an apple held me until supper. I spent the morning working in the garden until it was time to take a good hour hike through the hood then I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting under the big oak in the back yard reading. Wow was it ever nice and the sun was hot.

We had a good friends and neighbors Dan and Carol for pork chops on the grille, sauteed swiss chard and beet greens, cauliflower and a garden salad. Good eating once again but few carbs. Afterwards we played Phase 10 and then oh -ell(h). We split with the girls and guys each taking a game but the Botbyls won both. Later

Friday

Yea it warmed up enough to sit in the sun for an couple hours and to be outside without a coat. After my quiet time and the usual bowl of oatmeal with some fruit I pedalled( it was rather nippy as I rode out on the bike) out to the rec for some 2 1/2 hours of pickle ball. You would think with all this exercise I would start to trim this excess belly fat but NO, not yet !!! I think it has a lot to do with all these family meals and last night was no exception(I'm writing this on Sat. morning).

After pickle ball I stopped by the library and picked up a sack of books I ordered last week on line then headed for the garden. I watered and fed the new seedlings and if my bib lettuce makes I will have plenty to share. The tomato's are still growing but the cold has really stunned their growth and the fruit is not very big but they are still home grown and delicious. Everything else is doing great especially the snow peas(sugar), broccoli, kale, swiss chard, onions, beets, collards, parsnips and a multitude of herbs. Peppers are a little stunned but I do see some new growth, anyhow unless we get a new freeze we should be able to feed the 'hood.

Nancy was at her Friday morning Bible study at SFBC so I vacuumed the house and got the smoker ready for a new creation, smoked turkey. We had about a 15 pounder we bought on sale before Christmas so I wanted to do beer in the rear bird which we all like with a chicken. There were lots of "I sure will miss the gravy" or "it will be so dried out" or "make sure it's done" anyhow this was my idea and not many were for it especially the old folks. Well we separated the skin from the meat around the breast and put fresh thyme, garlic powder, Lowery Seasoning and I put a onion in the hole where the neck would be, stuffed it with fresh parsley then stuffed a tall can of beer into the cavity and loaded the smoker with apple wood and hickory. At 5:30 I turned the electric off and this baby was beautiful and the edges around the drumstick were starting to recede. I stuck a thermometer into the thigh and it was 160 degrees, actually 135-140 was the temp. to indicate it was done so I knew I wouldn't have any problems in that department. We let it set for about 30 minutes while we tried some of my now much improved with time homemade blackberry vino.

Nancy had baked spuds with all the trimmings, a broccoli casserole, Amy made a fresh garden salad from Tyler's garden, plus brownies for the girls and GG brought 2 pies; lemon and chocolate. Needless to say when I carved this beautiful bird the meat fell literally off the bone and it was the juiciest meat ever. There was so much incredulity by all except me, the taste was magnificent and the smoke did not linger in your belly(no burping it later). The wood smoke is very mild whereas usually oak and mesquite wood can leave a lingering taste afterwards. This meat flavor was so mild and delicious. We nearly devoured the whole bird with just little left for maybe a sandwich or two tomorrow.

Little Sam ate and ate this bird and we were amazed at his appetite for meat which he can be picky. Everyone was just amazed at the moistness after being in the smoker for 5 1/2 hours. next time I can probably reduce the time to 5 hours of course that depends on the size. I think its 20 minutes per pound in the smoker(electric).

A fun time was had by all and after baths, book reading and just general visiting they headed out for home around 10 o'clock. I was ready for a shower after the clean up and had no trouble falling asleep. I think the neighbors have put the feathered alarm clock in the garage at nights. Yea for that. Saturday morning looks like its going to be a bright, warm sunny shine day with tempos near 70. I took some pics of the evening but as you can tell by my picture taking Nancy is the pro. I will post a few. LATER

Thursday

Well the morning started out with rather chilly temps down into the low 40's but at least the sun was shining. After my quiet time and a bowl of oatmeal with some fruit I pedalled out to the rec for some pickle ball. We had a good turn out with 18 players and had some super rallies with lots of wet shirts. I headed home after the workout to work in the garden. I had to hand feed the plants after the heavy rains from the day before. The winds made it to too cold to stay outside and work in the yard for long.

Amy and the kids came for lunch and we ate the left over pizza, baked zitti and some salad. After they left around 2:30 we just chilled and I read until it was time to start supper. We had Amy and the kids for supper tonight so we had tacos using lots of our home grown veggies. Well not much else is going on except we are having a big supper here tomorrow evening with family. I'm smoking a turkey with a beer in the rear. Will let you know how it turns out. LATER

Wednesday

Well the morning sure looked like it was going to pour rain at any moment, but it held off and by the time I left the rec at 10 AM the sun was shining brightly with a stiff northern breeze. After my quiet time and the usual bowl of boring oatmeal with some fruit I pedalled out to the rec for some pickle ball with about 16 others. We had some good play especially the first hour or so. Afterwards I headed on home to check on the garden after the couple inches of rain we had on Tuesday through out the day. Everything looks like it will make it although the new lettuce seedlings took a beating. The radish seeds I planted a couple days ago are up; I only hope I got them planted in the waning sign of the moon.

We took off after I got home for a trip to Sam's club for some goodies and a stop at Winn Dixie for a rib roast on sale at 4.49 a pound whereas its usually 7.99 a pound and up. We had them to cut 10 steaks and a nice 3-4 bone roast from the whole loin. Looks like I'm smoking a 15 pound turkey on Friday and having the family over for a big dinner. That will be first time I've ever done a beer in the turkey, I just hope its as good as the chicken smoked that way. After Sam's we fixed a frozen pizza and had a fresh salad for lunch. I'm still a little nasally but Nancy is finally getting over her cold and can now taste again. She headed to the rec in the early afternoon for a workout while I chilled and finished up a good read.

We picked up a rotisserie chicken at Sam's for supper and had a fresh salad to go with it before heading out to house church at 7 PM. There was a good crowd and we had a couple new faces as well as we missed a few familiar faces. I stayed in a room with the little ones and had my hands full with the 4 of them. Well not much else is going on, LATER

Tuesday

Yikes, what a day in the flat land of the sub-tropics. The morning started with me actually asleep when the alarm went off(where's that bloody rooster, more on that later). After our quiet time and a bowl of boring oatmeal with some rasp and blueberries, I straddled the 18 speed and pedalled to the rec for a workout on the pickle ball courts. We had a moderate turnout with about 15 players and the play was fast and furious, we were missing a couple of regulars hopefully they will be back tomorrow. I'm still recovering from the head cold so at times I was a little lax in my play but I had a good wet shirt from the workout. It sure was good to get back and move the blood around in the body.

After the rec I stopped by the library and picked up another read as I'm about finished a great true story read titled A DEADLY SECRET by Matt Birkbeck, yeow what a great job by some troopers in New York State. This is a don't want to put down read until the end. Pictures included!!!!I pedalled on home in the warm temp's so I hand watered the garden and played around pulling weeds. I had heard we were getting a major rain fall later in the day so I didn't soak it as much as usual.

Amy and the grand babies came for lunch so I finished off the tortilla soup which actually seemed to get spicy the more it sat but was still a good dish. I took another antihistamine because of the lingering congestion but at least I can breathe through my nose. Nancy is doing much better since starting the amoxicilin, me I'm still doing it the wagon train way, but I may cheat tonight at bed time and throw down a couple of those pilfered antibiotics as Nancy proclaims I'll never use all of the 7 days prescribed for me. She is so nice to share her meds, especially after she gave me the dang infection. Oh well!!!

After lunch the kids played a while and the girls watched an Avonlee disc so I read and then felt like taking a nap. I laid on the bed in the green room and had a good nap only to wake up to a heavy down pour with lighting. I mean a downpour with a river running down our street. There were tornado warning everywhere with 50-60 mile gusts and super heavy rain. Thankfully we sustained no damage in our neighborhood but some areas had lots of trees down and lots of street flooding. Nancy fixed salmon cakes with a baked spud and cooked spinach for supper. Now that's working on reducing some belly fat; especially since I left the butter off the spud and just used some chopped radishes and a touch of sour cream for a topping. Yummm!!!

Nancy noticed our neighbor leaving this afternoon with that dang rooster sitting on the front seat of his truck as they left the 'hood. Not looking good to eat that bird at this point or any time soon. Well not much else is going on here in the deep south except lots of much needed rain and of course the temps are supposed to cool off again after this front moves through. I see where our northern family and friends are expecting some more of that frozen rain as this front heads their way. We had some great news about our little baby friend Harrison who has had a tremendous amount of health issues since making his way into the world. Keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. LATER

Monday

Well the heat ran all night long but as the morning progressed the cold temp's went away and the bright sunshine brought warmth. I decided to sleep in because I was still somewhat clogged due to the head cold Nancy shared with me on Friday evening. She had gone to the doctor on Friday for a diagnosis but still the runny nose, clogged head and crud oozed from her body so we decided she would fill her prescription amoxicillin after breakfast and that I would stay home from the rec. I could feel myself getting somewhat better as the day went along and she took her first 1000mg dosage around lunch time. Anyhow after our quiet times, I finished the leftover pancakes from Saturday's breakfast before I headed out to check on the gardens.

Speaking of lunch Amy made my favorite Italian bean soup for supper on Friday and brought me a enough for a couple bowls when she came with Ava and Sam for lunch today. Yumm that is the best soup ever. The herbs I had stored in the shed last night due to the very cold temps seemed fine so I took them out and then took off all the sheets covering the tomato and pepper plants. Certainly hope this will be the end of near freezing temps for our area.

The temps suddenly began to rise and by 2 o'clock I had opened the windows and put on shorts and a T- shirts. We decided we should get some exercise so we did a 3-4 mile walk through the hood. It was just beautiful out. I came back to read a while before starting the grill for some marinated chicken breasts that we were putting on a bed of fresh garden salad for supper. Yikes was that ever good eatin'.

Well not much else exciting with us but on a sad note we had 2 local St.Pete police officers shot and killed this morning along with a U.S. Marshall as they tried to serve a warrant for man who had already been in prison once before. One officer left 3 children.Well better go as I'm planning on returning to the rec for a workout. LATER