A Happy Birthday with Family..

Guess whose Birthday is coming up that we celebrated yesterday? I’ll give you a hint.

Now I bet you know.  This is not a cake, it's Lisa's specialty dessert....Chocolate Pie :-)


Now the secret's out... Ms. Pat’s Birthday will be next week on Nov 2ND. So since we are leaving Monday morning, the kids surprised her Saturday. Being with most of her family was the most enjoyable Birthday she could have.


The Birthday party was hosted by daughter Lisa and SIL Randy. Lisa cooked a blueberry pie and lots of other good stuff....plus there were Balloons and Ribbons hung everywhere. Great Job Kids!!


Son Scott, the local county Deputy Sheriff, took time off to bring and cook some of his Gator meat.  The kids know our love for Seafood and our lack of it in the Midwest, so they like to please us with as much of it as they can while we are here.  We sure enjoy it!  There was Seafood everywhere, including Fresh Oysters, Stone Crabs, fresh Amberjack…..and Gator…… What a FEAST!!!


Ms Pat shows the size of the wonderful tasty Stone Crabs they had…….  Boy were they good!  Thanks to Grandson James for bringing them. 30 Lbs!!


Ms Pat had a ball playing games with the kids.


Here is me and Ms Pat with daughters Terri and Lisa with 6 of Ms Pats Great Grand Children.  We're waiting for Josh to perform his "Nunchuck" (also called "nunchakus") routine.

 Here's Josh with his Nunchucks.  It's hard to see them but they are "flying" in all directions.  Josh has been studying martial arts for several years and has a "Black Belt".  He is also an instructor at his school.

 Here's Josh all dressed up for Halloween!  Pretty scary if you ask me!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

Another great picture of the Great Grandkids and grandson Josh, Lisa, Randy and Ms Pat. I have never seen Ms Pat much happier than this.


This is Ms Pat's grandson Jeremy. He and I spent a lot of enjoyable time together when he was a young boy. He used to come over to our place when his Mom, Terri ,and Ms Pat worked. We did lots of interesting things together. Jeremy was a good kid and helped me a lot.  He enjoyed doing mechanical work and so did I.  He didn't make it over to last week's cookout so it was sure great seeing him before we have to leave.


Here is Jeremy, Ms Pat, his Mom Terri and his two beautiful boys Bentley and Chance…
   

This is granddaughter Megan and friend Robert. Megan and I became quite close as she used to spend almost every weekend at our house for years and years….. many fun memories I will cherish all my life. She is a special girl in my life.

It was a Grand Day to say the least and the weather was PERFECT!!   I took dozens more pictures and would love to show you all of them but this has gotten too long as it is.  For you kids that want to see the rest of the pictures, I made a Web Album so you can see them all. 
Here's the link:  Birthday with Family in Florida

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!   WOW, we really Praise the Lord on this one….. We are so Blessed!

Tomorrow morning we will head on West….   It makes us sad to leave and makes us realize that we just have to get back more often. Tomorrow night we will stop in DuFuniak Springs, Fl and visit Ms Pats oldest sister.  Then we will move on West to Slidell, LA and visit Gus, the oldest Son.  How excited she is....it's been a while since she's seen him.

I will let you know on Wednesday’s Blog where we will spend the weekend!! We are very excited and looking forward to it....

Thanks for stopping by and "Kids, it was so much fun and enjoyable seeing you. Thank you for the wonderful memories.  We Love you all!"

Mike

Thought for the day:
"You know why a banana is like a politician?"
"He comes in and first he is green, then he turns yellow
and then he's rotten."


This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Old Home Week!!

We had a great get together with some of my former employees. It was so good to see all of them, many I had not seen since I retired 20 years ago. Thanks so much to Elise for getting them all together. I most certainly enjoyed talking about all the old times and if you weren't there, you were talked about. :-) We shared some super memories and it was fun to find out about everyone and what they are all doing now. Thanks to you all for coming and sharing this precious time together. Many thanks to our great x-neighbors Chuck and Rhoda for hosting this event at their beautiful home.Their home is right across the street from our previous home. This gave us a chance to look the old place over.


This was our home in Tallahassee, Fl. and the one we sold when we started full timing. We built this place which was our own design back in about 1987. I'm a little disappointed in how the yard is so unkept. I assure you it was much more manicured back when we owned it... Oh well!


The weather is still unbelievably great down here. However, Hurricane Rina is making her presence known and possibly headed this way. Maybe we have pressed our luck long enough. We should be our of here by the time she makes up her mind which way she's going. We plan on leaving Monday morning and head West. We have several stops to make along the way and plan on being home to North Ranch by Thanksgiving.
We still have a lot of things to get done before we leave and the next few days will be busy ones. The time will fly by and be over before you know it. Today we are headed to see our Financial Investment consultant and then on to see one of Ms Pat's favorite friends and co-worker, Jalma. Then dinner at our most favorite Seafood Restaurant with daughters Lisa and Terri. Praise the Lord.
It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We want to welcome our latest Followers # 205-206.....
Miss Lazee
Lynn Miles
Welcome aboard folks. We are glad to have you drop in on us when you can...

Y'all travel safe, and hurry back. God loves Ya!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

A Great Family Day

Saturday was a beautiful day and we started the day off early watching Dathon, Ms Pat's Great Grandson, play baseball. He looks like he will be a Major Leaguer for sure. He is at the ball field with his Sister Kylie and Mom Megan. They won the game just for us!! Good job Buddy!

Both Ms Pat and I love boiled peanuts and down South is the only place we see them.  So on the way to the family outing, the first "Boiled Peanut" stand we saw, we stopped and picked up a BIG bag.  Man were they ever delicious.  We'll be back for a couple more bags before we leave.



Soon we were about 12 miles South of Tallahassee at Ms Pat's daughter Lisa and Randy's place out in the woods where the rest of the family had began to gather...


Randy had some fresh Gulf Oysters on ice and soon began shucking them. Oysters on the half shell are another one of Ms Pat and my favorites. They were delisious!! when I moved down here in 1977 I had never tasted one, but I sure took to them fast and I've loved them every since... I must have ate at least 4-5 dozen...  These are local Oysters and these folks been shucking and eating them all their life..  I always said when in Rome do as the Roman's do!! I loved all the Southern food I ran into when I came here...

Here is a 4 generation picture.(right to left) Ms Pat, Grandson Billy, Great Granddaughter Eavan, Daughter Lisa, and Grand daughter-in-law Sarah.  They were headed off to an ourdoor Wedding.

Randy is a big hunter and he had some Vinison "back strap" in his freezer.  He wrapped small pieces in bacon and put them on the grill.  Here they are before they were grilled.  We'll show you later what they looked like when they came off the grill.

The Grandsons are setting up the horseshoe stakes getting ready for their game.

                                                           Grandson Marc starts it off.

                     

                                       Grandsons Josh and James watching their competitors.

                                               Grandson Gabe taking his turn.

Grandson Josh and James taking their turn. These folks are also superb Horseshoe pitchers. I always thought I was pretty good. Well let me tell you, it didn't take me long to bow out many years ago. I soon found out I was way out classed.......

                                                  Daughter Terri watching the game.

                       Randy and Lisa, our host and hostess, are busy eating oysters.

                                           This is the Vinison all grilled and ready to eat.

                                      Grandson Josh getting a belated Christmas present.

                                                                   Great granddaughter Kylie

                             Great Granddaughter Belle and Great Grandson Sage

         Now my belly is to full and it's time for a little football and "quite time" :-)  Zzzzzzzzzz

Son Scott, Daughter-in-law Shelly and Granddaughter Brittany arrived late and we forgot to take pictures.  It was getting close to our bedtime and we weren't thinking too clearly.  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time with the kids, grandkids and great grandkids.  The weather was FANTASTIC!!!

Today Elise, one of my former employees, has gotten together a bunch of the old group that is still around and organized a get together. I am so excited and looking forward to seeing them all.... There will be over 15 attending... many I haven't seen since I retired way back in 1992. Thats wonderful and I am so looking forward to it..... I will tell you about it next time...

That's about it for now, I'm sure you can tell we are sure having fun enjoying our Family..... We are ever so Thankful to our Father above for all he does and provides for us......

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

God Bless you all..

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Thought for the day:

"I think Congressmen should wear uniforms,

you know, like NASCAR drivers, so we could

identify their corporate sponsors."

'

A Seafood Boil to Remember!

Susan caught Ms Megabyte2 and I relaxing on their patio a few hours before our big Seafood Boil took place. We were both all spiffed up and I was wearing my new Harley shirt that Jutta brought me all the way from Germany.  We both knew things would be hoppin' soon and the guests would be arriving..

Ah Ha, here we go!! Lisa, Pat's daughter and Ms Pat along with her son Scott, watch as JRoger pours our outstanding Shrimp Boil on a serving tray. It looked and smelled "ummm good"! It contained potatos, corn, sausage, and lots of shrimp. JRoger also had the Mullet all "smoked" to perfection, it was delicious!! You can tell from the smile on his face that he loves to cook.....and I love to let him!!




























Looks mighty good to me....how about you? Oh Boy, this is what we've been waiting for!! Let's eat!




























Scott is a Certified Licensed Nuisance Alligator Trapper and always has plenty of Alligator meat. Here he is cooking some up for us. I think I have had some before but it has been a long time. I was anxious to give it a try again. I know that if it is cooked right, it's good and Scott knew exactly how to do it up right! It was delicious.




























Here it is all battered up and ready for the cooker.  Scott has his own special spices and seasonings that he uses and this time he added some of JRogers "Rub" recipe.  DELICIOUS!!




























We were so happy that our previous neighbors and good friends Rhoda and Chuck could join us. Chuck was such a good neighbor that I hired him to work for me.  He was one of my top employees. Chuck is now retired and Rhoda only has a few months to go before she hangs it up.. They are considering getting a motorhome and spent some time checking out our Foretravel.




























Going around the table that is Lisa, Ms Pats oldest daughter, then Ms Pat and behind her is daughter- in-law Shelly, then Scott, Ms Pats youngest, standing behind Scott is Lisa's husband Randy, then we have JRoger and Susan our gracious hosts. It is so nice of them to open their place to all of our friends and family when we are here. Everyone is enjoying all the food. Including me!!




























The next morning it was Monday and this is JRoger, Susan and their Kitty "Scratchy" ready to take off on the annual Pheasant Hunt in the great state of (where else?) SOUTH DAKOTA.  We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for being such wonderful hosts. We always have so much fun with them and will never forget all our great experiences with these super friends!!




























JRoger and Susan have a real nice place out here in the woods.  They assured us and we knew we were welcome to stay on at their place after they had gone but we decided it would be best to go closer to all the kids, so we moved about 25 miles West to the Big Oak RV Park in Tallahassee.

This is like an old home coming, as we stayed here for years and years when we came home to see the kids...  Karen is still the Manager and was glad to see us again.  She welcomed us with open arms.

So we are all settled in at Big Oak,

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We continue to thank our Father above for all he provides...

Thanks for stopping by.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

It's a BEAR!!

Wow!!  We are having a blast down here in Florida at JRoger and Susan's place out in the woods. What wonderful hosts they are.  We've been so busy having fun that I don't have much time to write a blog, so I will just put in a bunch of pictures to keep you up on all our activity.


























First is the BEAR that the Wildlife Camera caught and forwarded to JRogers computer. It gives the date and time. Here we can't even see the feeder. Note the time is 9:19pm.



























Here is the Feeder some 37 minutes later and the Bear has it in his mouth still working on it.




























Here is a bear track we found nearby.......the dollar bill on top and the quarter on the right gives you an idea of the size of the footprint. Pretty good sized bear.

This is one of the Hog pictures taken by the camera last night.



























JRoger, Susan and I inspect the Feeder. The bear scratched it up pretty good but no damage.. Ah ha, JRogers invention worked.......the Bear couldn't crack it.  What beautiful weather we have been having...just makes it even more enjoyable.


























Plus, we managed to slip down to the coast the other day and pick up some Seafood...  JRoger is smoking some of the mullet we picked up. For those of you that have tasted smoked mullet, you know how good it is. While at the coast, Ms Pat and I decided to satisfy our craving for some fresh Oysters on the half shell. We each had a dozen.  Ah man, were they good!!  So good that we had to have another dozen a piece.  Boy-O- Boy, just like ole times and just what we've been missing.  We loaded up with a bunch more seafood from the markets on the coast and brought it home for a big "Low Country Shrimp Boil". 


























Ms Pats oldest daughter Lisa and her husband Randy came out to visit yesterday and brought a couple of their grand kids....Belle age 5 and Eavan age 2. Ms Pat had never seen Eavan before and Belle was just 2 years old when we were here the last time. Above is Ms Pat and Lisa smiling for my camera.  Lisa has worked for the State of Florida for 32 years & 2 months and has 2 years & 10 months to go for full retirement.  She's counting the days as you can tell.  She can't wait!



























Randy relaxes on JRogers patio taking a break from trying to keep up with those grand kids...they about wore him out.

























Lisa is a proud grandma and is usually chasing kids, too. I got her and Eavan slowed down long enough to get this picture. I never could catch Belle long enough to get a picture but Ms Pat is a proud great grandma too!  We'll be getting all the kids, grand kids and great grand kids together next weekend for another outing so we'll get more pictures then.

Today is going to be a big day for us as the kids and some close friends are coming out to spend the afternoon. We are cooking up some special stuff, one of which is the Low Country Shrimp boil...plus lots of other goodies including the smoked mullet.  Ms Pat's son, Scott, is bringing out some fresh "gator" meat to cook.  UMMM good!!!  Scott is a licensed "Nuisance Alligator Trapper".

JRoger and Susan are leaving Monday going on a big hunting trip. They told us we are welcome to stay at their place while they're gone but we have decided to move into Tallahassee so we will be closer to the other kids, grand kids and great grand kids.  We want to spend as much time as we can with them and other friends before we head "home" to Arizona.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by....

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..