Friday, Feb. 1st Update

Boy, we've been busy.  We've had lots of company and have made some new friends.  People are so friendly down here and I've been told that I'll talk to anyone.  What's the old saying?-- Strangers are friends that we haven't met yet.  :-)  Funny, I hate talking on the phone though (maybe all those years of switchboard work) or maybe I am becoming my mother after all !!

Cousin Ed and his son Chris came down for a few days and a good time was had.  The guys went out in the boat and fished (nothing major was caught, just lots of smaller ones), we did the usual sightseeing, the restaurants, the bat house and drove down to Key West (again).  None of this is helping my diet any!  Here's the link to the bat tower, very interesting.  Hope it opens for you, or you can Google it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarloaf_Key_Bat_Tower

Glenna and Dave Cook have arrived from Colorado and live on the airstrip behind us, or in front of us, depending which direction you look.  Dave is helping to build an airplane that had been started years ago and he'll be speeding that process along.  He's built several airplanes and helped with others--sooooooo I've been showing Glenna all the "ins and outs" of where to shop, buy sandals, Salvation Army, etc.  It's been tough, but somebody's gotta do it!  I've gotta say, she's a quick learner. 

We've trained her on the best of the "Happy Hours" and she doesn't hardly drink.  She's the one that told me I talk to anybody, and now today I caught her talking to a stranger in the grocery store.  HA, busted!  Dave took a commercial flight back to Colorado yesterday, then he will be flying his airplane back here as he missed his plane and flying.  I hope he has a safe trip back.

An article was in the Keynoter News that the Fat Albert Blimp will be shut down mid March.  OH NO, so sad.  It cost lots to run and maintain and is outdated with the new satellites now.  My suggestion would be to make it a National Landmark (or museum) and run it on donations or fees to tour the site, but they didn't ask my opinion and probably won't.  If you notice my picture with clouds and see a spec in the middle, that's Fat Albert waaaaaaaaay up in the sky.  I'm gonna miss him, but it no longer was meant to be.

Homer and I went to Key West last Saturday to check out a friend of Homer's daughter (Jean).  You know, the oldest daughter (she hates it when I say that--sorry Jean).  Anyway, Deeter I believe his name was--well his wife had a booth at the Art Fair and she sure made beautiful jewelry.  I wish I had such talent!  Then we ran into Glenna and her friend JoAnn at the Art Fair.  JoAnn is the gal with the parrot MiMi that ate dinner with us last year at Salute` Restaurant.  That was a great memory, as I've NEVER knew that parrots could be potty trained, but MiMi is!

I went back to Key West with Glenna yesterday (when she dropped Dave off to the airport).  She wanted to stop and shop at the Ross Store.  With construction and one-ways, it took us almost 3 tries to get there.  Siri on our Iphone was not construction savvy.  Anyway, there was this cool chicken in the parking lot that I was chasing around to get her picture, as she was camouflaged with the rocks in the background.  A guy said to me:  "Lady, it's just a chicken."  I told him I knew that, but we have grandkids that are cammo EVERYTHING, so this is for the TenBroeke Gang.  (You're Welcome)

Another pic is Homer with our friend's Jack-A-Wa Wa dog (half Chihuahua and half Jack Russell).  She's a sweetheart of a pup, named Mia.

The big tent you'll notice is how they fumigate for termites.  Wouldn't you just love having to re-wash your dishes, strip all your bedding, drapes, whatever?  Geese, those darn little bugs.  Or maybe it was for cockroaches?

Oh ya, we have some stone crab traps set and Homer came home with 13 one day.  Yum.  They only sell for $25 a lb.  They're as good as lobster, and Matt our landlord showed us how to boil and crack them.  You twist off one of the claws and throw the crab back.  They grow it back in about a year I was told.

Starting tomorrow--my children and grandkids will be coming late in the day and staying for several days.  Wooo Hooo!  I should have lots more pictures for the next update.