Another beautiful sight! The floors are done!

Beauty Abounds here! From the flowers blooming in the yard in November to the striking sunsets over Indian River color is everywhere!

I spent a little time trimming the vigerously growing bushes around the yard today and brought a bit of the color in for us to enjoy indoors.



































Jack and watched the sunset over the Indian River earlier this week and I snapped this picture. We are enjoying Florida!

Full day... a little coffe and donuts at the clubhouse... alittle yard work... a wonderful stromboni for lunch at Nino's on SR 60 and 43rd Ave.... a walk on Avalon Beach collecting seashells and playing in the surf to ankle depth... then on the way home serenity was lost when the car locked up in third gear. Because Jack knows how to drive a clutch and do it well we managed to get the car to the garage that Keith uses despite the loss of "linkage". Being non-mechanical by nature I have no idea what could have caused the problem or what it is going to take to fix it but we happily left it in Bob's hands and let him give us a ride home!

Serenity has returned and Jack and I are happily enjoying the evening. Bob will call us tomorrow and we'll get the car fixed, until then we still have use of Keith's pick-up. All is well. And anyone that know's Jack know's what kind of a MIRICLE that is! God does wonderous things!

I am now waiting for a response from Reality Trade about my refund from them. I was assured if I didn't receive a valid offer on my Paradise Cove time-share in 6 months I'd get a full refund. I haven't recieved any offers and six months is up. We'll see how honest this outfit is. I wrote the letter requesting my refund and mailed it today.....

Things are happening at Homedale! Mike and Tim have only been there for a couple of hours and the old carpet is gone! I think they want to get back over the passes before any more snow falls!

Jack and I are in Vero Beach, Florida enjoying the warm, although not sunny, weather. We've unpacked and settled in to "village life" pretty quickly. We've been to watch the crashing Atlantic Ocean twice and stayed on the boardwalk! As you can see the ocean has taken possession of the beach! This picture was taken at 1:30 PM today!

We attended the retiring of the flags ceremony at the community building yesterday. Rain poured down at the precise moment the new flags were raised so we sang the Star Spangled Banner from under the eaves instead of under the flags. I can't remember the last time I sang the national anthem. It was surprisingly emotional. The ceremony was continued indoors where the details of retiring a flag was explained as the worn flags were correctly cut up and prepared for burning at a later date. I knew nothing of proper flag ediquette! Jack did from his days serving at the American Legion but it was all new information for me. Amazing how many "blank" spots I have at my age...not of things I've forgotten but of things I've never known!

Today Jack and I met with Peggy at 8:30 am in the pool for aquasizing! While I think it might be just a tad chilly I was surprised to see a local man dressed with a stocking cap, heavy coat, thick socks and hiking boots on walk past the community building as we toweled dry from our session in the pool. It's all relative. Friends from Klamath Falls said it snowed a little last night and this morning...it is really cold there!

Mike is headed down to Klamath Falls tomorrow, with his roommate Tim, to install bamboo tongue and groove floors in our livingroom and hall! I am thrilled! I am looking forward to pictures of the project! Mike has promised he'll take and post some!

I booked our Caribbean Cruise Thursday night! Such great deals are available when you are right here! We're going for the 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise to St Thomas and St. Maarten islands. We will be in Nausau, Bahamas for our wedding anniversary and at sea for Thanksgiving. I'm sure our Thanksgiving Dinner will be excellent! I have to pinch myself every so often... I have so many neat things going on in my life right now it seems like a dream!

With that said I better get some sleep. We are expected at the pool at 8:30!

Trailer's tarped, addresses collected.... we're getting ready!!!! Wind is blowing and the leaves are falling down. This time next week we'll be in Vero Beach... 83 degrees and sunny!

Awwwh, Jack is doing the happy dance today. He is unemployed! We went to the Daily Bagel this morning and chatted with friends that had given him up as dead. He has been to Fred Meyer's to check out the long missed aisles on his way to the green meat section. The Tuesday Noon Meeting was thrilled to see him again! His three month long, 6 day a week, 10 hour a day job is done and he gets to do the things he habitually did for the 5 years before this stint, briefly.

We're preparing in earnest to leave for the Atlantic shore. Jack has cleaned out the gutters, blown the debris away from the house, and has all the snow equipment poised and ready for use when needed. I am gathering all the pertinent information that we may need while away and making arrangements for our new flooring to be put in while we are gone.

Unemployed, but still quite busy!

BIRTHDAY'S IN RENO, NEVADA!

Jack and Signe- two people I love very much-have birthdays one day apart. Each year we do some thing to celebrate the passage of another year. This year the four of us went to Reno together for a long weekend. We had a great time - with Signe being the big winner. She drew a lot of attention getting her winnings back to the room and we had quite a time fitting all four of us and her haul in the car!

Leo had some kind of majic going on with the video poker machines and would make bank off of a $5 'deposit'! Jack enjoyed the crap tables and they enjoyed him being there! But they were not too brutal. I had more good fortune playing slot machines than I have ever experienced! We all returned to the slots that could one could win a Mini Cooper on at the Silver Legacy time and time again. No Mini Cooper for any of us though! Signe joined me in one round of a Black Jack Tournement and then sat out. Leo joined in and won a round and then we both lost but in the mean time Signe won a drawing for tickets to that evenings Comedy Show!

Four days and three nights went by very quickly.

We ate lots of great food and went to the National Automobile Museum as well. That was much more interesting than I thought it would be! I am not a car buff in any sense of the word but the museum is set up in a very interesting way. Period streets lined with appropriate cars, driving clothing of the times, hats! and wonderful hatpins too! Although we originally planned on spending a day at Carson City but we just ran out of energy one day!

Sunday came with the challenge of getting Signe and her winnings loaded in to the car.

We made it home with everyone happy to unload! Nemo was a great pillow but really squelched conversation! None of us could see each other! The California border guard thanked us for her laugh for the day! At the rest stop more comments were received by amused onlookers as we bailed out for a potty break. Oh, did I mention we stayed at Circus Circus? Signe won the largest stuffed animal they had at the bottle ring toss!

Home again, Jack and I are now preparing for our long vacation in Vero Beach. Today was Jack's last day at work. We weren't sure it would be until this afternoon but all the work passed inspection and the job was offically complete! Yeah! Jack is doing the happy dance!

The snorkling gear is now packed and ready to be sent to Vero and I'm writing my list....

We're off to Portland on Sunday and fly to Florida next Monday morning. Michelle and the dogs will be keeping this house warm while we occupy Diane and Keith's!