Wednesday Morning in Florida

Well it doesn't look as if we will be heading back to the mountains for a couple more days as a bug has entered the household and Nancy really suffered big time. She seems to be on the road to recovery but I seem to have developed some of the symptoms only not nearly as severe as she suffered. We learned from our "mountain mom" Helen the rain hasn't stopped for days with over 9 inches so far and more in the forecast. There is the possibility the tropical storm in the Atlantic could head for the mountains as well sometime this weekend so we would be cooped up in the cabin with all the rain. At least here in Florida we see the sunshine in between the rain showers enough so I can get outside and piddle around. What's with all this rain here in the East when the West is bone dry.

Tuesday started with a sleep in for both of us. I spent the night in the spare room so as not to be exposed to the severe bug Nancy had acquired. We weren't sure where it came from as the weekend was busy with pool parties, flying back on the airplane on Thursday, shopping and then we found out little Annsley became dehydrated from throwing up from a bug and had to be taken to the emergency room for a bag of electrolytes in the form of a transfusion. We could have picked it up from her as she mentioned many in her class were out with a bug, oh well!! I just developed stomach pains and some bloating but so far so good. I did start taking some raw ginger in a drink which helped tremendously with the cramps and pain as well as the feeling of being stuffed. Hopefully that's all I will have. So we are delaying the trip until further notice.

I did get in a nice bike ride through the hood which felt great. I'm staying away from the pickle ball court until I get back from the mountains in November. I want to completely rehabilitate the hyper-extended knee and the bike ride felt good with no real real pain or swelling. I sure miss being active and those steep mountain hikes up through the back woods. I'm really curious to see if anything is left of the gardens as we have been gone 3 weeks yesterday. I had a couple tomato plants that were just starting to set fruit but I learned it was extremely dry for the first two weeks while we were gone and now it's nothing but rain.

Well we stayed away from everyone except to pick up our supper that Amy made for us last evening. She handed it to me through the truck window when I came by in a tremendous down pour. We sure miss seeing and being with them and the kiddos but wouldn't want to wish this bug on anyone, LATER

Tuesday Morning in Florida

Well Monday saw Nancy with a horrible intestinal bug that hit her late Sunday evening. She was bed fast for most of the day. I slipped out early in the morning for some ginger ale and Lipton dry soup. She slept most of the day after a couple doses of Imodem capsules and stayed chilled throughout the day so we know it wasn't something she ate, oh well I think that will set us back a day for leaving for the cabin. So now it's temporarily Thursday instead of Wednesday and that depends if I was effected. So far so good.

I spent most of the morning downloading pictures to my blog which was abandoned due to the loss of my Dell. I'm starting to really enjoy the Macbook in all it's simplicity and yet it takes info from both our Ipad and incorporates into the system. I did manage to learn a few different things about the system and I think I will find it so much easier than the Dell, Oh well it was time as the Dell served us well for several years.

I took off for a haircut then came back to find Nancy sleeping so I headed out to get the truck serviced for the trip at Twill Auto and then filled up at $1.93, yeow what a difference from the California prices at nearly double that price. The skies were gray and eventually it began to rain lightly and continued that way throughout the night. We have had an abundance of rain here in Florida and we could easily spare some to the west coast as that is one dry part of the nation. I took off on my bike after supper to the library for a couple paperbacks to take with us as we won't be back in time to check in the 30 days loan on a book.

Well there wasn't much to talk about as we did little after the whirlwind weekend. We certainly hope the grand babies don't get this bug as it was a really bad one and I'm hoping I can escape it as well. I moved into the spare bedroom for now in hopes of staying away from the germs, LATER  

The redwoods, and lunch at an old favorite eatery in Vacaville

We left Monterey and headed north to Henry Crowell State Park to see the redwoods. This was a much nicer park and much cheaper as well than the bay area as it was by the car load. It was rather chilly there despite the bright sunshine. We passed through some amazing truck farming areas with huge crops of artichokes, strawberries and other veggies we couldn't determine what they were. Thousands of acres of crops all of which seemed to be irrigated. We then stopped at a place I visited while sationed in the Air Force and the grandson of the owners still run the business and the food was some of the best we ate during our trip. The place of course is considerably different from when I ate there 43 years ago but the name is the same and the picture of the original owners is how I remember the momma always sitting at a table when you entered the place slicing large mushrooms by hand. Joey the grandson also remembered her doing the same when he was a youngster.

17 Mile drive down Pebble Beach, Nancy and Carol with their feet in the Pacific Ocean and the bag piper at Spanish Bay and back to Monterey for supper

There were some rugged vistas along the 17 mile drive and one of the high bridges was built in 1932 and was still standing despite all of the earthquakes, there were many mansions and some very unique ones, the girls nearly getting swept away from a rouge wave and the lone bag piper at Spanish Bay who serenaded us on our 36th anniversary and then we went back to Cannery Row for supper.

Monterey around Cannery Row

We spent the better part of a morning around this wharf, saw otters, seals and lots of large gulls. We came back the next evening to have supper at one of the seafood eateries which was splendid. This seal was sunning himself on a rock just below the waterline next to the wharf.

The pics below are from the Carmel area where the shoppes are plentiful and quite touristy. We had a nice lunch there as well as toured the coastline. It's very rugged and pristine still despite all of the grand structures that line the coast.

Additional photos of the western trip with these mainly of the San Francisco area.

Here are a few more pics from San Francisco. It was rather warm the day we arrived but by late evening you could see the fog starting to drift in from the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean which is a norm for the city.

 Here are a few more city pics that show the Transamerica building with the view from the Coit Tower as well as the Oakland Bay bridge and the round outside toilet which I thought was unique. Several large ships were at dock as well along the water front.

Monday Morning in Florida and a few pics from our Western Trip

Well Sunday was a great day that ended on a sour note as Nancy was up most of the evening and night with a stomach bug or food poisoning. She is still peaked as I write this ramble.

The morning started out fine on Sunday and we had decided to visit First Baptist of Riverview where Bobby now is the worship pastor and leader. Nancy has been watching the podcast of the sermons by Jeff Knight for the past several weeks and I too have listened to his messages. He is a wonderful speaker and his messages are to the core with no sugar coating but strictly from the Word. It's too bad he is such a great distance as we both like him and the venue. We got back around 1:30 and went to work on the family dinner we were serving at 5 PM as Tyler had a meeting at his church at 6 and this was another combined birthday supper for GG and him.

I tuned into the hapless Bucs who play lights out one week and then this week it was horrible to watch. They definitely need a place kicker as he left 10 points on the field with his missed kicks. I vacuumed, snapped beans and helped as much as possible with the preparation. Nancy had 2 huge chickens in the oven roasting along with carrots, salad and crusty bread. There was carrot cake for dessert.

Arianne came up from Miami by herself and Betsy and Braden came along with Bobby's new friend Katie. We had a house full with all 5 grand kiddos there as well. It was our typical family supper and the eatin' was superb as usual. All except for Nancy becoming ill a couple hours after everyone left left around 7'ish.

I promised to share some pics from our western trip as Tyler has shown me how to download our photos onto this new laptop, bear with me as I'm still trying to learn the Apple methods; these pics start with a shot of the rocks around Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe, the gals in Napa and then some winery pics at the Mondalvi Estate in the Napa Valley area where some tasting occurred.

The second group of photos are from the western side of Calif. as we traveled south towards the Bay Area. We came upon the Sonoma Raceway. Notice how brown and barren the hills are, then a few shots of the Golden Gate and cliffs surrounding it as well as the steepness of a typical city street in San Francisco. I will publish more on a different post.