Muscle Building

Working, working, working and loving every minute.  Using muscles I didn't know I had, and wow are they letting me know they are there!

The last of the boxes have been unpacked and stuff put approximately where it belongs.  There is SO MUCH ROOM!!!  Not enough furniture, but that makes it easy to clean.  Of course, it takes twice as long to clean a house as it did Bella.  Speaking of Bella, she is still for sale, and we go visit her once in a while.  Some tears actually leak out.  They are really trying to get as much as they can for her.  I think they are asking too much, but they should know what they are doing.

The end of April, I went on an overnight school trip with Lauren, our granddaughter from St. Petersburg to St. Augustine with 39 other kids.  I thought I would be trying to corral 8 other darlings, but each child had their own handler, so Lauren and I got to bond even closer.  These adorable three are Alley, Lauren and Rowan, best friends and perfectly behaved.  What a great trip!  We learned so much from our guides both days and no one got lost, sick, or hurt.  Awesome two classes of fourth graders!

We like company, so first order of business was beds for our guest rooms.  Our new friend, Doug gave us some bed frames he found and we kept the mattresses from the coach.  So we built platforms to fit the frames (twin size) and here the slats are glued and screwed and drying under weights in the small garage.  I found an upholsterer and purchased some three inch foam to make them even more comfy for visitors.  

We put them all together and now they are waiting for bed risers and bedding to be completed in one of our guest rooms.  Yep, ya'll are invited!

Next project was assembling the tractor cart that just happened to be on sale in Lowe's when we walked in to see our friend, Doug, who works there. We did that on the sun porch in about 1 hour.

This is easy

Checking the wheels

All finished!

Using those muscles!

We built a clothesline last week and cleaned up under the pine and oak while the sun and breeze dried our sheets.  Solar and wind power at work, too!

Tomorrow we are headed to the flea market where I might get those kitchen chairs I've been eyeing for a while, then to the Livestock Auction where we are meeting Eva.  I met Eva over the phone as the person to talk to about straw bale gardening, however she just happens to have mini donkeys and chickens.  And she is planning to attend the auction tomorrow.  So we're going to check it out.  We can't get anything yet, as we need housing for animals, and fencing, but this is the place where you can ask questions and learn stuff.  YAY.  So I'll let you know how that goes.

I hate to leave on a crumby note, but Gary has had some small spots come up on his arms and leg, so we called UF Shands Dermatology department for us to get checked over, and they recommended some light treatment and cream.  PUVA is an ultraviolet 'tanning' booth [except you stand up] that effectively treats MF (Mycosis Fungoides) in some cases.  Gary started with this when he was originally diagnosed in 2005.  It worked for a little bit, but the MF got aggressive, so we needed to go on to radiation.  However, this seems to be working very well.  Downside is the two hours drive for 3 minutes in the booth) three times a week.  This should end in August.  If only the truck had autopilot ...

Meanwhile it's starting to get warm down here, but still not too humid.  And the lovebugs have disappeared until September, thank goodness.  We put up our birdfeeder and window hummer feeder and have birds and hummers visiting already!  There is a mockingbird nest in one of the trees we need to cut down, so we will wait till they have fledged before we do that.

There are PLENTY of things to do every day, and we are lovin' it!

Life is Good