Wednesday Morning Dec 3rd

Well you would never know its winter here as its been in the upper 80's during the afternoon with tons of humidity, so much so I spend the afternoon reading in the house with the a/c full on, oh well. It sure beats trying to stay warm with below freezing temps in the mountains. Tuesday was rather typical except for the evening when we visited with Sheri and Steve at their place for supper and cards and to celebrate neighbor and friend Dan's 71 big day.

I had a started the morning with a well before 6 rollout to my routines that begin with some quiet times to honor Jesus, give thanks for another day and to lift up several by name for comfort and healing, all are holding some better than others and some going down hill fast with severe health issues. I headed out on my bike to the REC for a great work out and some really good play with all A players and left after close to 2 hours of non stop play, winning most of my matches with different players. We play that winners split after each match so a couple doesn't dominate and its makes for good play. We have about as many women players and men and all are good players. I'm still the oldest of the group on these Tue. and Thurs. match ups but on M,W,F, there is a player a couple years older than me, but he isn't very good or active, oh well. At least he comes for some exercise at 82.

I came back and had a bite of breakfast with half an avocado and egg drizzled with olive oil and a slice of toast before we headed out to shop at Sam''s Club, Lowes and Publix. I filled up at 2.80 a gallon which is up from last weeks at 2.76, oh well. I'm looking forward to 2 bucks a gallon with all of the oil been produced with Trump's energy policies. The local gas was at 3.19 and I thought something is wrong because even at Sam's they had to be making a profit and the locals were ripping off consumers, oh well.

I bought some onion slips that are supposed to grow into vidalia like bulbs and transplanted them into the garden later in the afternoon when the heat some what abated, plus a cilantro plant. Everything in the garden seems to be growing and now I have radishes up and breaking ground in only 4 days, wow. During the afternoon I read for a couple hours and the true criminal investigation of a murder back in the 90's is starting to see some evidence pointing to the guilty. Its a great read but a long one as the two detectives are writing this story.

Well we picked up Dan and Carol and headed to the Nymark's at 5:30 for supper and cards. It was store bought lasagna, salad and key lime pie for dessert. Sheri's life long friend Sandy came alone as Jim her husband is not doing well with his health, so we played Michigan Rummy which is played alone instead of team play. Well Carol won both games which is tough to do but fun and you must be quick and thinking ahead of the various sets you need acquire to go down. It was 10 when we finished and headed home. I jumped into the shower as was in bed by 10:30 after an early morning rise, LATER

Tuesday Morning Dec 2nd

Well Monday turned out to be another hot sunny day with no rain which is needed. I got in some pickle ball play early in the morning and then worked in the gardens off and on during the morning and late afternoon once the temps abated. I started the day much the usual with a before 6 rollout to my quiet time to honor Jesus, give thanks for another day and to lift up several by name for comfort and healing, all seem to be holding with this post. 

The bike ride to the Rec for a good hour and half of pickle ball was quite pleasant but was starting to warm up quickly on the ride back home. I had a couple hours before I had a skin appointment at 11:30 so I hand watered the gardens and set out a couple tomato seedlings I had been growing into the garden proper. I eventually set out another 12 lettuce seedlings I had started from seeds as well into the garden as well. I have just about used up 3/4 of the gardens but sill have enough room for more beet seedlings I'm growing in a pot.

I read the afternoon away during the hottest parts and started a new read thats a real page turner by two homicide cops in L.A. who never gave up on solving a murder back in the 90's. It's titled BLACK TUNNEL WHITE MAGIC and its a real life story and very interesting. Nancy decided we needed to eat a frozen pizza for supper which was fine since I cleaned up the leftover turkey for lunch and wasn't really hungry. I'm trying to eat less and more salads now that I'm growing leafy greens for the salad bowl. I set the sprinkler on the front yard for an hour or so as evening lessen the heat of the day.

I read until shower time and then watched a little of the NFL but found it boring so I switched to some survival show which is kind of staged unlike ALONE where the folks have to film themselves in the wild, LATER

Monday Morning Dec 1st 2025

 Well Sunday was a fun day and a first for me in years as I attended a Buc's game in Tampa with son Bobby's family and with son in law Tyler and grandson's Sam and Gabe and the Buc's won the game for a change. I had to miss my greeter job at S.R.B.C. but did worship on line at Cornerstone Chapel. It was a near perfect day for being outside and the crowd was huge with lots of Buc followers. We are still leading our division but I doubt we will go far in the playoffs as the Panthers are just a game back and they beat the Rams today which destroyed us last week, oh well.

I started the morning much the usual with a before 6 rollout to my routines that begin with some quiet times to honor Jesus, give thanks for another day and to lift up several by name for comfort and healing, all seem to be holding with this post. I did head out to hand water the gardens before heading to Tampa with Tyler and Sam where we met up with Bobby and family minus Annsley for the game that started at 1 PM. 

Bobby's mother in law has season tickets which are on the 40 yard line about 10-12 rows from the field and they were great seats to say the least and the stadium is modern with two huge jumbo screens on each end of the stadium and if your blocked by a fan you can view the play on them live with replays, very nice and the excitement from the crowd is awesome as well. It was a bright sunny day but not overly hot and humid and while the home town team won it was close at the end. The traffic leaving the place was awful and the GPS took us out of the way due to streets being blocked from the game, for nearly and extra hour getting back home, so it was 2 plus hours getting home after dark, oh well.

I grabbed a left over hamburger for supper them settled into the night games until shower time and then some horizontal lab at 10, LATER

Sunday Morning Nov 30th

 Well this month is gone and now just a month away before a new year, wow time just flies by as you age, but I'm blessed so I'll just keep on loving Jesus, family and life itself with pickle ball and gardening which is just what I did Saturday morning and then some football after lunch. I headed out to the Rec after starting the day with 6'ish rollout to my routines that begin with some quiet times to honor Jesus, give thanks for another day and then to lift up several by name for comfort and healing. All seem to be holding with this post. 

I rode my bike to the Rec for some very good play with a few new A players  who are still working and don't get to play during the week, of course these are much younger players all very good. I managed to hold my own and won most every match with new partners despite some age differences, after an hour and half and a wet head and shirt, I called it a morning and headed home to work in the gardens and yards. It was a bit chilly to start the morning but by the time I left the Rec going on 10 it has warmed up to near perfect weather.

I hand watered all of the gardens and front planters and then harvest my first mess of both white and red romaine lettuces, kale and a couple collard leaves for the salad bowl. I rinsed and then spun them dry and broke them up for my lunch which was delicious. I'll soon have two more lettuces to add as well as Swiss chard to the mix. I blessed neighbor Dan with several lettuce and Swiss chard seedlings for his garden as I'm running out of room in my three plots. The tomato's are blooming and I still have several seedlings to put in the garden proper as well as more beet seedlings. I'll add their leaves to the salad bowl in a couple weeks as well. Its getting that time of the year when its a salad a day for us which is so healthy, now that I'm growing my own which makes it even healthy as I use no pesticides.

Well the college games were great and I watched them throughout the afternoon while Nancy went shopping and then I hand watered again before dark as the breeze and sun dries out this sandy soil here very quickly. We fixed our own plates from the left over turkey day dinner and its still delicious. I'm skipping church this morning, but I will watch and worship on line as son Bobby has received some extra Buc's tickets so Tyler and Sam will pick me up and we will head to Tampa around 11'ish. We even got a parking pass as well as 40 yard seats 10 rows up from the field, wow that will be a first for me, lets hope both offense and defense show up for the game against the Cardinals from Arizona, LATER

Saturday Morning Nov 29th

Well Friday started out on the chilly side with temps down into the low 50's and a stiff breeze which made it feel even colder. We did have plenty of sunshine and blue skies but still for Florida it was an extra shirt when outside. I started the day much the usual with a before 6 rollout to my usual routines that begin with some quiet times after posting this ramble to honor Jesus, give thanks for another day and to lift up several by name for comfort and healing, all seem to be holding with this post. I headed out to check on the gardens and then to hand water all of the seedlings as well as sowed some radish seeds in the side garden where the carrots seeds never germinated and then to sow a couple hills of half runners as well that never germinated. Most all the seedlings that I put in yesterday seem to be holding as well.

After hand watering both the gardens and planters I headed out to the front yard to pull some weeds and hand water the yard and those areas that were parched because we haven't had any rain in so long. The water just runs off those areas and will not soak into the ground so that means some hand watering daily to get those areas saturated again so the grass will take hold, oh well. Thankfully the shallow well seems to be holding especially for the gardens.

I piddled around until an early lunch which was the supper the night before which held me the rest of the day and evening. It was even more tasty than the night before and we have enough for at least another full meal. We just over cook too much plus we gave a ways several containers plus three huge plates for Betsy to take home, oh well. We will do it all again in about a month when we have everyone here for Christmas dinner but this time with a prime rib roast. I watched a little of the 3 PM NFL game on TV before we headed up to the Botbyl's where we joined up with Steve and Sheri for hand, knee and foot and the gals came from behind in both games to win on the last hand, oh well. Its been a while since they have won and everyone was happy for a change. 

It was chilly walk home around 9'ish and I soon hit the shower and was watching some ALONE in the horizontal position until lights out at 10. Today Saturday I'll head to the Rec for some pickle ball and then work in the gardens and yards. Not sure what is planned for the evening but if nothing its college football. LATER

Friday Morning Nov 28th

 Well Thanksgiving Day was great as always since both son and daughter's family were able to be here in the evening along with Nancy's sister Betsy and the food was delicious to say the least and plenty of it as well, enough so we will have it again this evening or on Saturday. We played family games until nearly 9'ish before everyone left for home and I could help put the house back in order before hitting the shower. 

I had started the day with my usual before 6 rollout to some quiet times to honor Jesus, lift up several by name for comfort and healing after giving thanks for another day, all are holding with this post. I headed out to check on the gardens and eventually worked outside until 1'ish when I came in and turned on the first of three football games. Nancy was busy in the kitchen with food prep and getting for the gang around 4'ish, when everyone came shortly thereafter.

The kiddos all played some kick ball in the back yard as we guys sipped a little fruit of the vine watching them play until it was time to eat. Then it was a meal to delight the taste buds to say the least which of course was a huge turkey and gravy, dried stuffing, smashed tatters, candid yams, green beans, mac and cheese, a Greek spinach dish and home made rolls and then three kinds of pie with ice cream, yikes did we ever spark up the fixin's this year and Ava made the home made rolls. There was some cheese and crackers first but I passed but did have some vino.

Everyone was having such a fine time afterwards playing bingo and then another game that was guys vs gals in a game much like charades, supposedly the gals won but that was debatable, anyhow it was a great time as the kids and kiddos are maturing and some of us getting older. Hopefully I will be round for next years celebration, LATER

Thursday Morning Nove 27th..Thanksgiving Day 2025

 Well Wednesday was another quite warm day especially after lunch but the morning started out quite pleasant and of course my day started with a before 6 rollout to my routines that begin with some quite times to honor Jesus, give thanks for another day and to lift up several by name for comfort and healing, all seem to be holding with this post. I headed out to the Rec on my bike for a workout and did get in a wet shirt and head before leaving around 9:30 and headed home to work in the gardens and yards until lunch time. Most everything is holding and now I have both red and green lettuces ready for harvesting which I will do tomorrow as the kitchen is taken over with the big turkey dinner this evening when both kids and all 7 grands come for supper plus Betsy. 

I moved up 18 more lettuce seedlings into 6 packs and will keep them there for a few days until they shown more leaves before setting them out into the garden proper. I did some hoeing and hand watering as well as pulling some weeds out of the front yard. I now have several new tomato seedlings up from some old seeds I had saved years ago and wondered it they would germinate and they did, so I will have more than enough to share with neighbors when they start to produce. The collards are ready for the pot. The kale and Swiss chard will be another week or so before they are ready to harvest and add to the salad bowl. I lost another cucumber hill but still have more than enough if these all make, oh well.

I started a new read about serial killers titled MURDERLAND by Caroline Fraser and she does a magnificent job on several killers in our day and more specifically with Ted Bundy and those events as she probes their minds and bloodlusts. She really delves into their back grounds and even areas where the environment may have been a factor into their rampages, very interesting.

Amy, Eliza and Sam came over after lunch to make cut out cookies with Nancy for an hour or two while I read. I never ate one cookie which I'm proud to say as I'm continuing on my decision to lose a couple pounds. I saw 194 the other day for the first time in months and I'm hopeful for 190 by the end of the year. I do believe taking Metamucil daily has helped some what to curb my craving for sweets and desserts and some what portion control. Today will be difficult with several different pies and of course smashed tatters and gravy as well as stuffing and yams, oh well, LATER